Pitch Black
by yaoiFantasy
Summary: complete: AU fic Squall, convicted murderer, is being taking back to the Desert Prison by Seifer on a ghost rout. Crash-landing on a desert planet, the 2 along w/a rag-tag band of people must face the darkness, the monsters hidden within, & each other.
1. I ain't dyin' for dem!

//Pitch Black: Chapter 1// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

**Prologue --// Squall's POV**

They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. 

All but the primitive side. The animal side.

No wonder I'm still awake.

Transporting me with civilians. 50. 50 plus.

I heard a Miko voice. Some kami ni sasagerareta woman. Probably on her way to the Hyne temple in the Soft Square galaxy. But what rout? What rout?

Smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool-belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads.

And then there's my real problem: Mr. Almasy. The blue-eyed devil. Planning on taking me back to the Desert Prison of Gaia. Only this time he picked a ghost lane.

A long time between stops. A long for something to go wrong...

**---  
// Author Note: Miko = Priestess -- "kami ni sasagerareta" = dedicated to god  
---**

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The cargo-ship gliding through the deep space. The void darkness between the stars. Peacefully heading towards its unsuspecting, final destination. 

Buzzing alarms woke Zell from his cryo-sleep. His eyes groggily opened, seeing the flashing red-lights beeping around him. 

Standing up-right in the cryo-locker, he blinked, trying to regain his mind-set. To remember where he was and what he was supposed to be doing right then.

The ship was in emergency mode: The three cryo-lockers for the skeleton crew of the cargo-ship turned off, waking the Captain, Docking Pilot, and Nav Officer.

Zell's eyes focused then went wide, realizing the state of the cargo-ship. He looked across the cabin to where the Captain was slowly waking. 

Relief started to wash over the young blonde. Then, all too suddenly, small particles of Hyne-knows-what ripped through the outside hull, straight into the cabin, straight through the Captain's chest.

Blood splattered over the cracked glass case of the cryo-locker.

Fear swept through Zell. He quickly reached up to the red-handle inside the locker, pulling it as hard as he could. 

The glass-case around his cryo-locker opened, allowing Zell to tumbled forward, right onto the ground. His legs weren't working quiet right yet, and he felt incredibly dizzy. Not to mention he was slightly sick from watching the Captain's chest being ripped apart.

A body fell on top of Zell's back, but forced itself up and away.

"Why'd I fall on you?!" Xu, Nav Officer of the ship, asked in a frantic voice.

"He's dead!" Zell replied. "Captain's _dead_. ... I was lookin' right at 'im!"

Xu pushed up onto her knees, looking at her wrist band. "Chrono shows we're 17 weeks out, so gravity wasn't supposed to kick in for another 23 weeks... I mean! Why'd I fall at all?!"

"Did ya hear what I said?!" Zell asked, pushing up himself, looking at the dark-haired woman. "Captain's dead."

Xu frowned at Zell before jumping up to her feet, frantically looking around for the appropriate thing she was supposed to be doing.

Zell stood slowly, taking another look at the shredded Captain.

"I'm on com, you go to the pilot room," Xu ordered, hurrying away from the cryo-room into the next room.

Zell mechanically headed in the opposite direction of Xu, entering the pilot room, taking the main chair. 

He could barely breath. The fucking Captain was dead. And the alarms, sirens, blinking red lights. 

Flipping a few buttons, trying to focus on the job of saving his own ass, Zell forced himself to remember how to pilot the old, rusty cargo-ship. 

The blonde docking pilot pulled on a head-set, controlling his panic as adrenaline pumped acid through his veins.

"Dropping 20 MB per minute," Zell recited, looking around the different screens, flipping a few more switches. "... We're... hemorrhaging air! Oh shit! ... Sometin took a fuckin' swipe at us!"

Xu's voice pounded in Zell's ears from the head-set he wore. "Just tell me we're in the shipping lane! Tell me you see all those stars... Dincht? ... Dincht?!"

Zell blinked, looking in the monitor. No bright stars. No void of darkness. Only one giant, red planet getting larger and larger. They were going to fucking crash.

"Hyne above..." Zell mumbled through his chapped lips.

Xu looked over the com station. Looking over the numbers on the screen quickly, she choose a wide-distress beacon. 

"We're headin' straight towards a fuckin' planet!" Zell's voice yelled in complete fear over the in-ship com system, boring into Xu's head. "We're so fuckin' dead!"

"They trained you for this, right, Dincht?" Xu asked.

No reply from Zell.

Xu shrugged it off. He'd sure as shit better have been trained for this.

Xu started the distress call. "This is Merchant-Vessel Balamb en-rout to Gaia. We have been knocked out of out-" 

Static. The com was gone. Which could only mean they'd hit he atmosphere and the com-set was ripped off the ship hull.

"Hyne save us..." Xu said softly, turning to do something else useful.

The ship was dropping altitude fast. Too fast. And Zell knew he had to straighten the ship out or... they'd have an unpleasant meeting with the ground in a few minutes.

"Planet looks survivable. Oxygen, no major water bodies, land terrain stable..." Xu's voice filled Zell's head-set.

Zell pulled on handles, opening break-shutters on the outside hull, catching wind, forcing the rusty cargo-ship to slow some of its speed.

But still, the ship wasn't leveling out.

Sinking his teeth into his lower lip, Zell turned to close the hall doors of the last compartment. Purge load. Drop some weight off the butt-end of the ship, then maybe the nose would begin to turn down.

Zell near ripped the handle off as he got rid of a cargo-cabin.

"What the fuc - ...Was that a purge, Dincht?!" Xu yelled into Zell's head.

"To heavy in da ass!" Zell replied, moving his chair to purge another cabin. "Can't get my fuckin' nose down!"

Xu frowned, but let Zell continue. Dropping cargo to save lives wasn't a bad thing.

The old cargo-ship tumbled in its burning decent towards the ground. Fire encapsulated the ship, its speed hardly slowing at all from the little help the breaks and purges gave.

Zell looked with wide eyes at the screen in front of him. 

_"Center of Gravity too far aft. Recommended purging cabins now."_ the screen read.

Zell nodded, moving to close the main cabin doors. 

_"Purge all?"_ the screen read.

The doors behind Xu closed, sealing the main cabin off from the rest of the ship.

Xu turned and looked at the doors saying into the mic "Dincht, what the hell are you doing?" her voice was empty of emotion, but fear and horror filled her eyes.

"I gotta drop more load," Zell replied plainly.

Silence filled in the panic-stricken ship.

"Look," Zell continued. "I've tried everything. I'm still riding high."

"You try everything again!" Xu replied angrily. "No way do we just drop out-"

"If you know sometin I ain't seen, then get your ass up here," Zell snapped. 

"SeeD says we are responsible for every single person back there!" Xu replied.

"What? We both die out o' sure fuckin' nobility?!" Zell mocked back.

"Don't you touch that handle, Dincht!!" Xu screamed, jumping up from her chair.

Zell moved his hand away from the red handle that would send 50 people to their deaths with one light pull. 

Zell breathed, staring at the handle, going over the consequences in his head.

The passengers cryo-lockers began to open. People blinking their eyes, waking up from the forced sleep. 

Seifer Almasy reached the red-handle in his private cryo-locker, pulling it. He fell forward, onto his knees in the dark room. 

The ship shook, sirens going off, beeping and blinking everywhere.

"Don't you touch that handle, Dincht!" a woman's voice screamed.

Seifer slowly stood up in the unstable cabin.

Xu forced the cabin doors open with a manual override. Then she shoved a large metal bar between the doors, forcing them to stay open. 

Sparks flew next to Xu as she jumped back.

Zell swallowed, glaring at the red handle. In a split-second decision, he reached up and wrapped his fingers around the bar.

"I ain't gonna die for dem," Zell muttered into the com, then he pulled the handle.

_"Air-lock doors open. Air-lock doors open."_ the computer screen read, signaling an error.

Zell's eyes widened as he screamed "Xu!"

"70 seconds, Dincht. You've still got 70 seconds to level this beast out," Xu replied.

Zell screamed to himself, turning to frantically look for something else to do. Something else to bring the nose down. He slammed his hands down on a jarred button. "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

The ship shook, its speed slowing down greatly as more break-shutters opened. 

That was it. All Zell could do. 

He breathed, looking over the screens, watching the ship level slightly, but they were still going down in a free-for-all.

Seifer looked across the dark, red-light lit cabin. 

Thank Hyne above, Leonhart was still in his prison-issue cryo-locker. Shut tightly and securely. The glass labeled "Lock-Out protocol in effect. Absolutely no early release."

Seifer straightened his trench-coat, the bright-silver badge on the front shinning even in the red-light.

Other passengers were beginning to leave their cryo-lockers themselves.

Then a tremor that threw Seifer from his feet rippled through the ship.

Xu sat in the chair at the com station as the ripple hit. She was strapped into her chair, but that didn't help. The chair ripped from the posts in the floor, throwing the poor woman across the room.

Zell covered his head a second before the ship hit ground. All he could do was sit there until the ship stopped its skipping over the dirk and settled. 

It was a long fucking wait when adrenaline was pumping acid through your heart. And your breath wasn't flowing any further then the top of your throat.

----------------------------------------------------------


	2. Scars

//Pitch Black: Chapter 2// 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Breathing was hard with the golden dust so thick in the air. Ghostly shadows began to cough and moan, wondering to themselves why they had survived the violent crash.

The weak voices of survivors called out to others, desperate to discover if their friends had survived. Some voices spoke in English, others in Japanese.

"Shit…" Seifer murmurs, raising a shaky hand up to his right ear. It's bleeding.

Letting out an aggravated groan, Seifer stumbles, intent on getting to Squall's cyro-locker.

Cursing under his breath, Seifer drags his feet, his mind a daze after the crash had jolted him.

Raising up a bloody hand to stand himself up, Seifer peers into Squall's cyro-locker.

It's empty.

Reaching for his holster, Seifer raises his pale eyebrows in surprise at the fact that there wasn't anything there.

Gone. Torn right off his belt.

_No prisoner…and no weapon…fuck_, he thought, his mind pregnant with flashes of concerns.

Looking up from the high-tech compartment, Seifer's sky-blue eyes scan his surroundings area. As quiet as a Tonberry, he tries his best to find Squall's location. A prisoner with a weapon was _not_ a good thing.

'Screeeeeeee…'

The loud metallic burn of a cutting torch sounded loudly in Seifer's ears. Looking away from his attempt at securing the area, Seifer noticed the hot blue flame burning on the door of a cyro-locker.

Must've been jammed.

Seifer watches from afar as they finally complete their work. He smirks when a small, brown-haired boy emerges from the remains of the broken cryo-locker. Stephen. He was unscathed, with eyes greener than the forests of Timber.

"Somethin' must've went wrong, huh?!" Stephen asks plainly, looking up at the person who had freed him from his temporary prison.

Seifer continues his search for his pistol, wondering to himself if Squall had somehow taken it from him.

Looking to his right, Seifer can see something behind him. In the corner of his eye, he sees two chained feet dangling in the air.

Chained feet…?

Before he could react to defend himself, Seifer's faceless assailant swung chained feet over the back of his head and around his neck, choking him with the lethal chain.

Gritting his teeth in determination, Seifer did his best to prevent his attacker from choking him. He couldn't die down now. He wasn't a weakling like that.

Powerful legs twisted angrily, forcing Seifer to writhe in pain.

The chain acted as a choke collar, and Seifer's breathing was becoming slow. He had to do something, and fast.

Reaching for his last hope of survival, his baton, Seifer got a firm grip on the small defensive stick. Swinging it up through the air, Seifer swung the baton up at…Squall.

Still locked in his old body chains and his mouth-bit. He looked down at Seifer from above, clinging to a ceiling beam for support.

He rode out the baton blows as if he weren't human. The blows kept coming, harder and harder, as Seifer's breathing became lower and lower.

Seifer was losing.

Only a few, pathetic seconds from blacking out, Seifer gives up on attacking Squall. Instead, he strains forward, frantic to escape the death-grip Squall has on him. Keeping a strong hold on the chained feet that had attacked him, Seifer pulls so hard that Squall fell from his hiding place in the metal-bound ceiling. Squall falls through the air, no use in trying to protect himself from the fall. He hits the steel floor headfirst.

Turning quicker than a Torama, Seifer shoves his baton harshly to Squall's neck, pushing it so that the convict could feel the pressure on his dry skin.

"You had one chance, Leonhart, one chance... One day one o' us is gonna get hurt, and it ain't gonna be me," Seifer growled, his sky blue eyes burning with anger, but a smirk on his lips shows his amusement. "You never cease to disappoint me…"

Looking down at his attacker with pity, Seifer sighed. He looks around the dark room, flipping on his flashlight. A bright streak of light sweeps through the dust-filled air of the cockpit. Seifer follows the beam of light with his sky-colored eyes. 

The cockpit is filled with dirt. No signs of life whatsoever.

Ready to search elsewhere, Seifer turns away from Squall, but then he catches a glimpse of a spiky-haired youth in the beam from his flashlight.

"Hey," Zell calls out, his voice weak from the fear of nearly dying.

"Hey…who?" Seifer responds, raising a pale eyebrow in curiosity.

"Over here," Zell declares, trying his best to get Seifer's attention.

Seifer's light finds the back of a chair tumbled on its side, a swirl of thick dirty air twirling around it in the dark, muggy room. Crawling closer to get a better view of the survivor, Seifer checks the other side of the chair and finds him. Zell. He's nearly buried alive. There was so much fucking dirt.

"Wonderful," Seifer says. "I'm Seifer Almasy."

"Zell Dincht," Zell replies. "I'd love to shake hands, but…"

Seifer manages a meek smile and starts digging him out.

Zell looks up at the sky-eyed blonde, wondering if he could place his trust in a stranger.

"Seifer…are there any others?" Zell asks, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not.

Seifer didn't answer.

After freeing Zell from his grave in the hot dirt, Seifer helped the spiky-haired youth through the ghastly carnage.

Zell's shocked by all of it…but especially by the blast of sunlight where a hull once was.

Realizing he's in the com room, Zell starts digging through the dirt like a search dog. After a few moments of digging, Zell finally uncovered…Xu.

She was still trapped to her chair. A long metal rod was piercing through her chest, close to her heart. Too close. She was dead. Feeling his eyes moisten a bit, Zell's bottom lip trembles. He couldn't believe it. Xu was…actually…dead.

Reaching out to touch his former comrade, Zell's hand is shaky as it gets closer and closer to his fallen companion.

"Out! Out, damn it! Get this goddamn thing outta' me!" Xu screams, her voice rich with pain.

Zell recoils back. Xu's still alive. 

The other survivors fumble over, leading to ten full seconds of pure chaos.

"Pull it out of her!" someone cries.

"No, it's way too close to the heart…" another voice murmurs.

"If you gotta' do it, do it fast," a stranger says.

"Don't touch it! Don't you touch that fucking handle!" Xu yells.

"You'll kill her," a voice says.

"…She's probably delirious. You've gotta' have some drugs for this poor woman…" someone suggests.

"Don't touch that…fucking handle!" Xu screams.

"Aright, aright…Someone? Anyone…there's some…ah…Anestaphine in the med-lock. It's at that end of the cabin next to…" Zell glances to his right, realizing that there wasn't anything left to "that end."

In exquisite pain, Xu screams even more shrieks of pain.

Seifer looks down at Xu, a strange gaze in those sky-colored eyes of his. 

A strange smile curved over Stephen's lips. It was his first time to see such raw suffering.

"Get away!" Zell cries, looking up at the people who stared in awe-struck fear. "Everybody leave! Except for Stephen. You can stay behind to watch the life seep out of Xu, if you'd like."

Seifer doubles back and grabs Stephen by the collar of his shirt. Leaving the scene of Xu's suffering, they unknowingly pass Squall, who's cuffed to a bulkhead. His eyes are still hidden by those dark goggles. Those strange, dark goggles…

Seifer and Stephen track toward the golden daylight, leaving Zell and Xu behind. The small group of survivors wandered outside, looking up at the golden air around them. The sunshine was so warm and bright around them…Almost ethereal.

Seifer looked at the survivors who stood around him. They were truly a group of rag-tag people. A dark-haired man who seemed obsessed with artifacts…A beautiful blonde escorting two young males and a younger female…A dark-haired girl with skin as white as snow…A tall man with light brown hair in a ponytail…And the12-year-old Stephen. Seifer sighed to himself.

The nine survivors looked out at the harsh land around them. The valley floor is relieved by weak hills to only one side, spiked with towers of earth. Scorching down on everything like hateful eyes are two suns. One glows red, the other yellow.

A dark-haired man named Nida forces a small smile.

"Well," he begins. "Teach me for flying coach"

Three youthful disciples fall to their knees. Two male, one female. Their eyes are moist with tears. They obviously had the shit scared out of them from that crash.

"Please…" the blonde woman, Quistis, declares. By the way the three young people looked at her with such awe, it was obvious that she was their leader of some sort. "Will someone please tell us the way to the Hyne Temple? We _must_ know the direction in order to cleanse Gazna of his sins."

Seifer shakes his head, snapping open a compass. He lets out a groan when he sees the needle swaying awkwardly.

Xu's screams of pain finally ended…Was she dead?

Back in the ship, Zell looks at Xu with hurt eyes. His blue eyes were wet with tears, and it was evident that he wanted…and _needed_ to cry…

Xu had died…the wound was just too bad.

He held her, not caring if her blood got onto him. He had just lost his comrade…a woman he trusted with all his heart.

Quistis made a quick motion with her hand, signaling for her followers to come together. And after a brief moment, the four of them had started their unique way of praying.

With their backs together, each of their faces signalized a different direction on the compass.

Quistis stood to the north, Nuvy to the east, Gazna to the south, and Zamzi to the west.

Climbing out from the back of the ship, Zell looks up at the survivors who were already there.

Seifer, Nida, Irvine, Rinoa, and Stephen were already there…

"There was talk about a scouting party looking for other people..." Rinoa said softly.

"No use in a scouting party…" Seifer mumbled, looking over at the tattooed blonde.

Zell turns and looks at the scar behind the ship. The huge scar cut onto the dry ground like a horrible scratch, splitting deep into the earth as far as the eye could see. Carnage of ship parts and smoke rising in the air scattered along the scar-line.

One glance at such a mark confirmed that there were _no_ other survivors…

"I, for one, am completely grateful," Rinoa said to Zell. "The hunk-o-junk wasn't made to land like this, but... We're alive now because of ya."

"Yes, thank you ever so much," Nida said, placing his hand on Zell's shoulder.

"Yeah!" Stephen joined in. "Thanks for savin' our dicks."

"Well done," Rinoa added.

Zell held back a cringe, remembering what he'd tried to do. What he'd almost done. If it hadn't been for Xu. And now Xu was dead.

Seifer stays silent, watching the scene of thankful survivors. Thanking Zell. 

_Don't you touch that handle!_ The words of that Nav officer woman echoed through the large blonde's mind.

Seifer's eyes narrowed at the tattooed blonde, hiding a smirk behind his professional face.

----------------------------------------------------------


	3. Docking-Pilot vs Captain

//Pitch Black: Chapter 3// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure   
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

The cabin was dark with dust swirling through the thick, muggy hair. The only light that entered the room was from the a small rip in the hull, and even that only gave the room a hazy glow.

Zell crossed his arms, looking over at the chained-up convict. 

That man... Squall Leonhart. Another of Zell's problems right now. As if this situation wasn't bad enough. Being stranded on this abandoned desert world, ship beyond repair, no water or food, and those people. The survivors. Thanking him. And Zell had tried to kill them. 

Zell swallowed hard, frowning at Squall.

Squall's head was tilted down, his body slouched, and his arms were chained behind his back, hooking him around a ship support-beam. 

Dark air filled around him, only a soft muggy glow allow Zell to see the chained convicted. But he could see the dark bandanna over Squall's eyes, hiding them from the light.

Shifting his weight, Zell breathed heavily in the silent room.

"Dincht?" Seifer's voice startled the spiked-blonde's silent moment.

Zell turned to look at the large blonde. The badge on Seifer's chest shone brightly, shinning silver.

"And him?" Zell asked, turning back to look at Squall.

"Big evil?" Seifer replied, taking a step to Zell, standing close to Zell's back, looking over at Squall.

"D-do we-" Zell whispered, looking back to meet Seifer's sky-blue eyes. "-keep 'im locked up forever?"

"That'd be my choice," Seifer replied plainly, taking a quick glance at Squall before meeting Zell's sapphire eyes again.

Zell's eyes widened slightly. "Is he really dat dangerous?"

Seifer look a long look at Squall, narrowing his eyes like a hunter sizing up his prey. "Only around humans." He turned to look back down at Zell.

Looking at Squall, Zell pulls his arms tighter, hugging himself. 

Seifer put his hand on Zell's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Come on," he said, motioning towards the stairs to leave the room.

Zell turned back to Seifer, locking eyes again. Nodding, Zell moved by Seifer, to leave.

Seifer took a moment to frown at Squall, glaring at him with a strange smirk. Then Seifer turned and followed Zell to the upper levels.

~*~

"Urgh!" Nida whined, seeing his personal belonging scattered everywhere in the cargo-cabin.

The cabin had been close enough to the front-end of the ship that it had survived the crash. Survived, but it was still seriously fucked up. During the crash it had been ripped from the main cabin and was now stationed about 35 feet from the rest of the ship.

"My things!" Nida pouted, walking towards a large mummy-tomb.

Zell and Seifer followed the artifact collector.

Nida sighed, kneeling down. "Everything all topsy-turvy. ... Bloody luck!" 

Zell frowned, looking around at all the strange wooden artifacts that scattered the cabin. He stole a quick glance at Seifer, who had the same 'what-the-fuck' expression on his face.

Nida opened the mummy-casket to reveal lots of booze bottles. Non-labeled, dark musky color bottles. 

Nida sighed happily, picking up a bottle. "Thank goodness this wasn't a total lose."

"_That's_ what ya 'ave ta drink?" Zell said. They needed water, not alcohol.

Seifer leaned past Zell, brushing against him, picking up a bottle.

Nida frowned as Seifer opened the bottle and took a large drink. "I'm going to need a receipt for that!" Nida turned to look at Zell. "For all of this! ... These are my personal belongings!"

Seifer laughed softly, looking at Zell with a smirk, then he took another drink. 

Zell sighed, ignoring Nida's comment, looking down at the tomb of booze.

"Captain?" the voice of the blonde mika said.

Zell took a moment to realize that Quistis had called him. Zell looked up and saw Quistis standing in the doorway of the cabin. 

"I ain't supposin' dis will help ya?" Zell said, holding back a sigh.

Quistis shook her head. "We cannot drink. Forbidden, especially while on parch."

"You do realize there's no water," Seifer said, turning to face the blonde priestess. "Right?"

"All deserts have water, Mr. Almasy," Quistis corrected him in her stoic voice. "It just needs to be found."

"I hope you're right," Seifer answered, taking another large drink of the alcohol.

Nida smiled to himself, closing his mummy-tomb saying "All the more for me, then."

~*~

Squall sat alone in the cabin. Chained to a support beam, a dark cloth covering his sensitive eyes. 

Damn Seifer for taking his goggles, but at least he had something to help keep out the light.

Yet, even through the thick black material, Squall could see the abandoned cutting torch laying not so far away. 

But the torch was too far away. Squall couldn't reach it. 

Very slowly, he looked around the cabin for anything to help him. Then he remembered near the top of the support beam. 

Squall pushed himself off the ground, his back pressing hard against the cold metal pole. He then stretched his arms as straight as possible.

Breathing in deeply, Squall moved his arms back, turning bringing them up. Gruesome popping sounds echo through the empty cabin as Squall's shoulders dislocated. But his arms continued to move, rising up, then popping back into place with the same horrible sounds.

Squall held in a smile as he slipped his chain through a small fracture in the beam. Thank Hyne for a fucked up ship. Squall fell forward, reaching his hand out to grab the cutting torch.

~*~

Seifer looked frantic around the desert plan. He'd gone in to check on Squall, but that psychopathic killer wasn't in the cabin. Wasn't sitting chained to the support beam like he was supposed to be.

Seifer squinted his eyes, looking carefully, then he saw it: glittering in the distance lay Squall's constraints. He ran as quickly as possible towards the chains, ripping them off the ground as he glared over the vacant landscape.

"Mother fucker," Seifer whispered angrily, sneering. Then the slammed the chains back into the ground, turning to head back to the cargo-ship crash site.

~*~

Seifer held his large gun in one hand, resting the butt end against the side of his chest. He clicked large bullets into the gun, listening to the panic noise coming from around the com station room.

"What da hell is dis shit?" Zell asked Nida, picking up a wooden pick-ax, frowning at it.

"Maratha crow-bill war-picks from Northern India. Very rare," Nida informed.

"An' dis?!" Irvine asked, taking a wooden stick from Nida's arms.

"Blow-dart hunting stick from Papua New Guinea. Very, _very_ rare, since the tribe's extinct," Nida said, looking slightly worried that everyone was taking his precious artifacts for defense. They were expensive artifacts that he'd been collecting his entire life. 

"Betcha couldn't hunt shit with dis!" Irvine grumbled at the blow-dart.

Nida sighed, slightly distraught expression on his face. "Well, what's the need, anyway? If he's gone, he's gone. Why should he bother us?"

"Maybe to take whatcha got," Seifer's soft voice boomed through the room.

Everyone went silent, turning to the guy with the badge.

"Maybe to work your nerves," Seifer continued, cocking his gun. "Or maybe he'll just come back and skull fuck you in your sleep." He looked around the silent room.

"...Sounds like a charmer," Rinoa said sarcastically.

Stephen took a hunting boomerang from Nida's arms, then hurried to follow Rinoa and Irvine out of the cabin.

~*~

Seifer stood next to the crashed ship, binoculars in hand, looking over the landscape for any sign of Squall.

Irvine and Rinoa had modified breather units, adding straps and tubing and ball-floats. 

The prototype was tested on Stephen. He sucked the mouthpiece then smiled at Rinoa. "Yeah!" he confirmed, nodding. The breathing unit giving air on sucking-demand, rather then a constant flow.

Quistis picked up one of the breathers and started to strap it onto Nuvy.

Zell walked to the five travelers, noting their work. 

"We'd better get goin, Quistis," Zell said to the priestess. "Before night fall, when its cooler."

"Nuvy," Quistis said to the young girl.

Zell crosses his arms, watching the blonde woman, waiting.

"Eh!" Nida's voice came from behind Zell.

The spiky-haired blonde turned.

"Captain," Nida said. "I think you'd better take a look at this."

Zell frowned, uncrossing his arms. He followed Nida until the ship didn't block their view of what should have been a dark twilight.

"Bloody Hell!" Rinoa said, seeing the blue-sun rising over the horizon.

Zell turned and looked to the _sunset_, where two gold suns were slowly disappearing. Closing his eyes, he breathed, thinking it over.

"Three suns?!" Stephen exclaimed, looking at the two opposing horizons.

"So much for your night fall," Irvine said.

"So much for my cocktail hour," Nida mumbled.

Zell's shoulders slouched. He opened his sapphire eyes to see Seifer looking at him. Seifer half smiled at him before turning to Quistis as she spoke.

"We take this as a good sign," Quistis said, smiling, hands on Nuvy's shoulders. "Blue Sun, blue water. Direction, path from the Gods."

Nuvy nodded, smiling, saying something in Japanese.

"That's a bit of a bad sign, really," Seifer said, approaching the group from his position near the ship. "That's Squall's direction."

"I thought ya said ya found 'is restraints in da sunset," Zell said, shifting his weight.

"Right," Seifer confirmed. "That means he headed towards sunrise." Seifer pulled out his gun, cocking it, then shoving it back into its strap.

Seifer smiled at Zell, then turned to walk to Irvine. "Irvine," he said, pulling out a second gun, handing it to the long haired man. "Fully loaded clip. Safety is off. One shot fired if you see Squall." 

"Aw!" Irvine said, taking the gun. "Don't tell me ya're goin' off too."

Rinoa sighed, looking at the gun in Irvine's hand.

"Yeah," Seifer said plainly.

"Excuse me! Mr. Almasy!" Nida said, hurrying to stand next to the large blonde. "But what happens if Mr. Leonhart spots us first?"

Seifer smirked at Nida. "Then there will be no shots." He turned away from the now panic stricken man, heading towards Zell.

~*~

Quistis and her three followers walk through the rocky landscape, following Zell and Seifer.

Seifer's eyes glided over the scene, looking for any sign of Squall. He held his gun in his right hand, safety off, cocked and ready to fire.

Quistis sang a beautiful lyric as they traveled, singing of praise to the gods.

Squall watched as the group walked by. His eyes were still covered by the thick black bandanna, but he could see just fine. 

"QUIET!" Seifer snapped at Quistis.

She stopped singing immediately.

Seifer looked around them, then noticed a few pebbles falling down the rocky hill next to where he stood. Moving his gun to both hands, Seifer ran up the hill to look for the source of the movement.

Zell watched Seifer move, the muscular body of the large blonde showing greatly in his strides.

Squall stood up slowly, watching Seifer run up the hill. He blinked, holding a broken piece of bone in his left hand. The white weapon sharp and deadly even though it was just bone. The make-shift weapon was in Squall's hand, after all.

~*~

Seifer knelt near the top of a hilly mound. He looked through the binoculars, his sky-blue eyes locked on the distant horizon.

Footsteps approached from behind Seifer. In a quick move, Seifer jumped to his feet, gun out, right in the person's neck.

"Uh!" Zell breathed in, shocked that he had a gun pointed at him. And the look in Seifer's eyes scared him slightly.

Seifer eased the weapon down, blinking his blue eyes at Zell. "Sorry."

Zell nodded, watching Seifer move back to knelt down, looking through the binoculars again.

"See anytin?" Zell asked, kneeling close to Seifer.

"No Squall," Seifer said plainly. "But trees." He moved the binoculars from his eyes, turning to meet Zell's gaze. "And trees mean water."

~*~

Nida sat completely content. He'd gotten a fold out chair and an sun-umbrella, setting them up on the top of the crashed ship. With a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other, he hardly noticed he was stranded on a deserted planet.

"Comfy up dere?!" Irvine snapped from the dirt level below. A body bag beside Irvine, which contained the poor passed Xu.

"Yes!" Nida said smugly. "Its amazing how you can do without the necessities of life provided you have the little luxuries."

Irvine sneered at the brown-black haired man. "Well keep your bloody-fuckin' eyes open!" he yelled up. "I don't want that dog sneakin' up on my bloody ass."

Nida watched in his comfortable chair as Irvine dragged the Xu's dead body away towards the spiraled hills 100 feet from the crash site.

Taking a sip of his alcohol, Nida nearly chokes when a blade is pressed to his throat. "Ah!"

The soft chuckle of Stephen signals it was only a joke. "He could probably get you right here, under the jaw," Stephen said, taking the boomerang bade back form Nida's neck. "'Cause that's how good Squall is."

Nida turned to look at the 12 year old boy. "Now tell me," Nida began, "Did you run away from your parents, or did they run away from you?"

Stephen sneered at Nida before turning away, heading back to help Rinoa try to futility repair the ship.

~*~

Zell sat at the base of a huge skeleton. The animal that died must have been the size of a whale.

The _trees_ that Seifer had seen in the distance were actually the feet bones of this large skeleton, sticking up in the air. 

It was a graveyard of sorts. As far as the eye could see, giant skeletons of these massive beasts.

Seifer sat down next to Zell, offering Zell the bottle of booze he had.

Zell sighed, accepting it, twisting off the top. "Shouldn't be doin' dis," Zell said, bringing the bottle to his lips. "Makes ya thirstier." He took a large drink.

Seifer smiled at him. "Yeah, well..." he said, not bothering to finish his sentence.

Zell handed the bottle back to Seifer. "Thanks."

Seifer took the bottle back, moving to put it in his side-bag. 

"Is dis whole planet dead?" Zell asked as he took a heavy look around the graveyard. 

Quistis and her followers had scattered off to search the plains. Seifer and Zell were alone.

Squall slowly walked through the graveyard, his eyes locked on Seifer and Zell. The bone-weapon still clutched in his hand.

"You know, you could have stayed back at the ship," Seifer said to Zell. "Probably should have. If we don't find water, you know what happens."

Zell sighed, looking away from Seifer. "Naw, I wanted ta get away."

"I've never seen a _Captain_ so eager to leave his ship," Seifer replied, raising an eyebrow.

Squall walked in the dark between the skeleton bones. This is where he preferred to be. Hidden. Dark. Unsuspecting. And right behind prey.

Squall stopped walking once he'd reached the boneset behind Zell and Seifer. Leaning down, he moved the bone-blade up, looking at Zell's back between the giant skeleton bones.

"We should keep movin'," Zell said, trying to drop the subject.

"What did Xu mean?" Seifer said, moving to look into Zell's eyes. "What'd she mean: _Don't touch the handle_?"

Zell swallowed, searching Seifer's eyes. The tattooed blonde wasn't sure if he should trust Seifer. 

"You can tell me, Zell," Seifer said, offering a smile.

Squall moved the bone-blade closer, moving in to the sweet-spoke, heading towards the kill.

Zell looked away from Seifer. "I ain't you fuckin' Captain," Zell said plainly. "During the landing...when things were at their worst...Xu was at her best. She was the one who stopped the _docking-pilot_ from dumping the main cabin. ... The passengers."

Squall stopped, then slowly moved the bone-blade away from Zell. _Interesting._

"And the docking-pilot being?" Seifer questioned.

Zell turned to look at Seifer. He didn't bother answering. It was obvious.

Seifer smiled at Zell, moving his hand to ruffle Zell's bangs. "Guess I'm a little more happy to be here then I thought," he said with a friendly grin.

Squall moved his empty hand out touched Zell's hair. He lightly caressed over the blonde strands, the owner not noticing.

Seifer stood up then offered his hand to help Zell stand. Once they both were standing, they turned to head into the bone yard, looking for the priestess and her followers.

----------------------------------------------------------

**// Julie: *huggles Wonderful Failure* ... I loved chapter 2!! ... It was wonderful! ... And the past/present stuff wasn't that bad. I would have fixed it when I beta-read it if it had been bad. You did a great job!! **

**// ------- DarkSquall, *smiles brightly* ... I'm so honored that you read another of my fics! Thank you so much for the great review! *worships DS***

**// ------- Tia, Go rent the movie! Love this move sooooo much. Although I'm making the relationship between Zell/Seifer (Fry/Johns) a little more then it was in the movie. **

**// ------- ****tatsuko, thanks for the good review.**

**// ------- Kat, you've seen Pitch Black right? ... Then you should know exactly who dies, b/c I'm not going to change any of that. Everyone that died in movie will die here. And those that lived there, will live here. **

**// ------- Purple Penguin, Happy you liked the fic! **

**// ------- Redrum, confusing? ... Sorry. Maybe if you see the movie it might make more sense??? *shrugs***

**// ------- Windsailor, sorry about the past/present tense. Wonderful tried to write is present, but he's used to past. But thanks for the review! Happy you liked the fic so much!!**

**// ------- Fira: YES Zell/Seifer is a minor thing in the story. And Wonderful and I couldn't come up with names so I looked in my cheat book for FFX and stole names from the Blitz Ball players. *smiles brightly* You noticed!!!!**

**// First time I addressed everyone that reviewed, but I figured there weren't that many people. So I thanked each of you separately.**

**// ~*Julie, xoxo**


	4. Stranger

//Pitch Black: Chapter 4// 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Upon leaving the graveyard of giant bones, the scouting party reached a large cleft in the hills. Ahead is a canyon. A big one.

"Hold on," Seifer commanded. He jumped onto a large rock, and put the scope to a sky-colored eye. "Didn't bite."

"What?" Zell asked.

"I thought he might be relaxin' in the bone yard…could either double-back to the ship or sneak up behind us. I left the alcohol bottle back there as bait," Seifer revealed.

Seifer scanned the graveyard with his scope until he found the battle. It's still got one swallow left.

"But nah…didn't bite," Seifer replied.

And with that, the small group left the graveyard, leaving the bottle behind. Little did they know that the bottle was no longer filled with scotch, but now with sand.

*******

With the spiraled hills around him, Irvine dug up a communal grave under the shade of a tarp.

Xu's corpse in a body bag was ready to be buried.

He kept a close watch on the crash ship.

Rinoa waved at him, and Irvine waved back to the dark-haired woman.

*******

The scouting party traveled through a narrowing canyon. It was lined with huge rib bones, and they were obviously in the stomach of some long-dead beast. Zell squinted at the ridged tops of strange hills. More and more of those spires were visible on the canyon rims, looming like silent sentinels.

"What are they?" he thought. "Just mineral deposits?"

"Captain!" a voice called. "Captain…"

Zell looked away from his view of the strange structures and then saw the only female of Quistis' followers. Nuvy.

Nuvy lured Zell a few footsteps away to where the other Trepies gathered. They had found some kind of a toy. It resembled a robot of some sort, heavily dirtied by desert sand.

The three companions asked each other questions in Japanese. Zell stood, trying to figure out why such a device would be in the middle of the desert.

Zell took the toy from Zamzi, staring at it with his sapphire eyes. He dusted off some of the sand, trying to get a better view of it. His attempt was futile.

"We're…not alone here, yes?" Quistis inquired.

They all looked ahead of them, wondering what was beyond. But rather than looking forward, Seifer looked behind him.

"Never thought we were," Seifer mumbled.

*******

The survivors continued trekking, and noticed an old weather cock creaking in the wind.

Zell, Seifer, Quistis, and the Trepies arrived at a small settlement of sorts. The Japanese greetings of the Trepies echoed through the confined area. The settlement was strange, built from stacked shipping containers. Tattered sunshades flapped in the wind. A rusty bike lay on the ground, covered by a thin layer of desert sand. The Trepies began to call out more Japanese greetings.

"Long gone," Seifer muttered "Whoever they were."

The small group moved around a building, and pulled up short. Before them they see a large moisture-recovery unit. It was a hulking machine, tragically in disrepair. Empty jugs littered the ground around the huge machine.

"Water…There was water here…" Quistis declared, astonished.

The Trepies began to speak in Japanese.

Zell nor Seifer had any idea what they were trying to say. Luckily, Quistis was there to translate for them.

"God is Great, yes?" she spoke.

"I'm reborn," Seifer replied in a sarcastic tone.

Zell simply managed a nervous smile, but then found his eyes trailing back to the abandoned buildings.

"Who were these people?" he wondered. "Why did they leave so much behind?"

*******

The group of survivors, minus Zell, found themselves searching through the main building of the small settlement. Seifer and the Trepies crawled over the moisture-recovery unit, assessing highly needed repairs.

Zell stood in the settlement, carefully inspecting the Refectory table. Years and years of dust layered up on the table. Old photos lined the walls. Settlers working at modest gardens. Some were playing baseball. Others posed with children.

Leaving the room, Zell entered a small room, dark despite the blazing sunlight outside.

"Lights," Zell called out, hoping for the lights to come on to his voice.

The darkness remained.

"Lights on?" Zell asked, wondering how the hell he could get the lights to work.

Giving up on using his voice, Zell felt around for old-style wall switches. Yet he noticed thick blinds on the walls, blocking out the iridescent sunlight. Zell fumbled with them until they were open.

Seifer was standing right outside.

"Hey," Seifer replied. "Don't go too far."

Zell simply nodded, trying to catch his breath.

Seifer smiled at him, and then left.

Trying to get his heart to settle, Zell took a quick breather. But he heard something creaking behind him. Turning from his view outside the window, Zell saw…an orrery. It was a mechanical device that showed the motion of the planets around their suns. Solar powered, the orrery started turning due to the sunlight that poured in from the open window. It creaked as it slowly moved, building up the pace just a bit. One of the planets seemed to have nothing but sunlight.

"No darkness," Zell realized. "There's no lights because there's no darkness…"

*******

Zell left the strange building, walking out to the porch. He looked out over the rear of the settlement. He saw nothing but more merciless terrain.

He prepared to go back inside, but something glinted at the edge of his vision. Zell turned back and saw parted clothes on a laundry line. He noticed the source of the glint. Excited hits on his breather.

Zell leaps off the porch, and started walking quickly. It was as if he were on some magnetic bearing. He started running, breaking out into a full sprint.

While running, Zell heard cries in Japanese from the Trepies.

Seifer and the Trepies exchanged glances.

Zell stopped on a groomed runway, out of breath. The others caught up. They too marveled at…The skiff. It was a light-duty vehicle of hybrid technology. It was part bush plane, part spacecraft. It was dust covered and looked like it had been laid up for years, but the hull still looked intact.

*******

Nida added a bit of caviar to the toast he was snacking on. A strange scrabbling sound stopped him in mid-bite. He reluctantly eased out of his chair, and moved to the rear edge of the ship he was perched upon. He looked down…and saw a shadow ducking under him. Small rocks trickled down a dirt rampart that was obviously just climbed by…someone.

"This now qualifies for the worst fun I've ever had," Nida muttered. "Stop it."

No response. Absolute silence.

Grabbing his war-pick, Nida eased himself to ground level. He checked the perimeter, looking inside the ship.

Nobody.

Was he being fucked with?

"Stephen?" Nida calls, hoping it was the 12-year-old who had been creeping around outside. "Oh, Stephen…"

"What?" Stephen's voice asked.

Nida spun around. The voice had come from the cargo hold…and not where he had expected it to.

Nida enters to find Rinoa and Stephen cutting open containers, searching for usable goods.

"Tell me that was you," Nida pleaded.

"Okay, it was me," Stephen replied. "So what'd I do now?"

"Assailing my fragile sense of security, that's what," Nida snapped.

"What're you goin' on about? He's been right here with me for the last…" Rinoa trailed off.

They all saw it. Sun-blades are momentarily blocked by something…or someone passing outside.

"Irvine?" Rinoa whispered.

Stephen sprung to the other side of the hold, putting an eye to a crack there.

Faraway, Irivne could be seen finishing digging a grave. He started towards the ship.

Inside the hull, Stephen whirled back, mouthing a silent alarm.

"Squall!" he mouthed.

Nida went bloodless. Rinoa grabbed the war-pick out of his frozen hands, moving catlike to the main doors and poised there. She stood ready to strike.

Stephen followed with the hunting boomerang.

All their eyes watched carefully as the sun-blades winked off and on, charting Squall's approach.

Suddenly he appeared, and Rinoa swung hard.

"No!" Stephen cried.

Facing them was a _total stranger._ He was burned and half naked, one hand still clutching to the emergency-release lever of his cyro-locker.

Rinoa had stopped one inch short of killing him.

"I thought…Hyne," the stranger murmured. "I thought I was the only one who…"

He lurched towards Rinoa, trying to embrace her, and then saw an explosion of blood and brain-bits slamming against her. His own.

The stranger sunk lifelessly to the ground.

Irvine stood in the background, a pistol leveled. He read Rinoa's terrified face, and understood what he'd done.

"Oh, Hyne…" Nida whispered.

"It was just somebody else," Stephen mumbled. "From the crash. He was just…"

"Shit," Irvine growled. "I thought it was him. The murdern' dog. I thought he was…"

Irvine rushed over to check the dead stranger. Bending down, the foursome looked over the dead body, coming across his ID. They learned that he was a man by the name of Cid.

While learning about the man Irvine had accidentally killed, Squall sat in Nida's chair, sipping the scotch Nida'd left behind.

----------------------------------------------------------

**// Wonderful Failure: The script I used was really funky, so I apologize for that. I got the past/present terms right this time. And if you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. Not only will it let you know which character plays which role in the movie, but it's also a really great film. Uh...Well, enjoy. And special thanks to Julie who's letting me write with her. *Mwah!***


	5. Remeber the Moment

//Pitch Black: Chapter 5// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Zell walked out of the ship-skiff, down to where Seifer stood waiting.

"No juice," Zell said with a sigh. "Looks like da ship has been laid-up for years."

Seifer nodded to Zell.

Zell took a step towards Seifer saying "We might be able ta adapt-"

"Shut up!" Seifer snapped, looking away from Zell towards the direction of the far-off crash-site.

Zell held his breath, watching Seifer.

Seifer frowned, turning back to Zell. "Sorry, thought I heard something."

"Like what?" Zell asked.

"...Gun shots," Seifer said plainly, turning to look back in the direction of the crash-site.

~*~

Irvine dragged the heavy body of that Cid-man. The man he'd killed thinking it was Squall. And Cid was a heavy fucker, too.

Getting to the grave-pit, Irvine let go of the body bag, stretching his back, looking down at the tarp that covered the pit. Sighing, he reached down and removed the tarp, about to get started on continuing the grave-digging. But he noticed a small hole only big enough for someone to crawl into near the bottom of the pit, on the wall next to the floor. It was like the dirt caved in almost, but the hole was hallowed.

The hole in the pit-wall looked like it lead into a cavern of some sort.

"Blood hell...?" Irvine frowned down at the hole. It hadn't been there before. 

He jumped down into the pit, getting to his knees. Turning on a flashlight, Irvine looked into the hole.

Squall knelt down beside the pit, watching an obvious Irvine slowly crawl into a hole. The bone-dagger was still clutched in Squall's hand.

Inching his way further into the hole, Irvine saw something move. It was seriously dark in there, and suddenly he wasn't so sure that this had been a good idea. But it was too late. All Irvine could do was grab his gun and try to shoot whatever it was attacking him.

Rinoa looked up from her conversation with Stephen. Gun shots. Screaming. Irvine. 

Squall?

In a burst of adrenaline, Rinoa took off running, heading straight towards the grave-pit. Stephen and Nida not too far behind.

Yanking the tarp off the gave-pit, Rinoa saw only blood. And the dark hole near the bottom of the pit-wall. 

"Irvine!" she cried, eyes frantically searching the pit for a sign of her best friend.

Feeling like she was being watched, Rinoa looked up to the other side of the pit and saw Squall. Squall: kneeling, looking down, bone-weapon in hand. His eyes still covered with the dark-bandanna.

"You bastard," Rinoa muttered under her breath, the dark doll-eyes of hers lighting up with fury.

Squall slowly, cautiously stood, watching Rinoa carefully. Then, quickly, he turned and burst down in a full-out run, heading far from the death-site of Irvine.

Taking a quick glance back, Squall saw Rinoa running after him. Then something hit his legs and he fell forward, hard onto the ground. Something, or someone really, kicked his side, forcing Squall onto his back. Looking up, Squall saw Seifer glaring down at him, baton raised to strike.

Reaching up in a quiet, desperate move, Squall tried to grab the baton from Seifer, but Seifer yanked off Squall's black bandanna.

Bright, blinding light. That was all Squall could see. And then he could make out a vague outline of a human body, Seifer's, looking down at Squall. Then Seifer punched Squall in the face and hit him in the chest with the baton.

"Piece of shit," Seifer growled.

"What did you do to Irvine?!" Rinoa's voice growled.

Squall turned to see the fuzzy, glowing shadow outline of Rinoa glaring down at him. Fuck his eyes hurt from the light.

"What did you do to him?!" Rinoa asked again, this time smacking Squall across the face with the back of her fist.

Zell grabbed a hold of Rinoa, trying to pull her back. "Rin, Rin! Calm down!"

"Somebody just kill him! Just god-damn kill him before he...urgh!" Rinoa was able to kick her foot, nailing Squall smack in the face.

He fell back into the dirt, shaken. Seifer moved quickly, pulling Squall up and shaking his arms behind his back.

~*~

Zell walked into the crashed ship cabin. Squall was chained up again. This time with his arms spread out to either side, his head hanging down as he sat in a dark corner next to the wall.

Zell stared at Squall a moment, a frown on his face, his sapphire eyes sparkling angrily. "So where's da body?"

Squall didn't reply, not even looking up.

Zell breathed, noticing that for the first time Squall didn't have something covering his eyes. And Squall wouldn't look at him.

"Well... do ya wanna tell me 'bout the sounds?" Zell asked, putting a hand on his hip. He cocked his head, trying to look at Squall's darkened face.

Zell sighed, shifting his weight. "Look, ya told Seif ya heard sometin... ...Fine. If ya don't wanna talk ta me, that's fine..." Zell stepped back, frowning at Squall. "But jus so ya know! ... There's a debate right now on whether we should jus leave ya here ta die." Zell started to turn away.

"You mean the whispers?" Squall asked, not moving.

Zell paused his motion, breathing a second, then turning to look at Squall again. He took a step forward, getting closer to Squall then he was before, but not too close. Squall was a psychotic killer, after all.

Zell breathed softly, finally forcing his voice to reply. "What whispers?"

"The ones telling me to go for the sweet-spot," Squall replied, his body still completely frozen. Like ice. "Just to the left of the spine, fourth lumbar down. The abdominal aorta. Metallic taste to it, human blood. Copperish. But if you cut it with peppermint schnapps, that goes away quickly-"

"You wanna shock me wit da truth?!" Zell snapped at Squall, silencing the brunette prisoner.

Squall lifted his head, his eyes closed in the small light of the room. He half-smiled at Zell. "All you people are so scared of me -- an' most days, I'd take that as a compliment... but it ain't me you gotta worry about now."

Zell swallowed, looking at Squall's face. Pale, white skin. Creamy, and that scar between his eyes nearly exactly like Seifer's. Beautiful. But Squall's eyes. Closed. Hidden.

Zell took another step forward. "Show me your eyes," he said in a slightly more desperate voice then he meant to.

"You'd have to come a lot closer for that," Squall said, almost amused.

Zell's lips parted, his eyes locked on the chained brunette. Licking the dry, chapped flesh, Zell took an uncertain step forward, then another, and a third before stopping, still a couple feet from Squall.

"Closer," Squall mused again.

Wiping his hands on his pants, Zell took another step forward. He looked up to Squall's chained arms, wondering briefly what sort of reach Squall had, but he quickly dismissed the notion. He wanted to see Squall's eyes.

A step forward, then another. 

Squall jumped up and forward, barely stopping a few inches from where Zell stood. 

Grey-blue. Dark. Swirls of storms with no pupils. And a shin, a glimmer, jewel-like, sparkling. Beautiful and dangerous. Hungry, like a starved beast.

Zell's breath was caught in his throat, his face so close to Squall's. He took two careful steps backwards, his sapphire eyes locked with the jewels of Squall's grey-blue spheres. Then Squall turned away from Zell, looking to his left.

Zell turned to see Stephen standing their, smirking at Squall. 

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that?" the 12 year old boy asked.

"First ya gotta kill a few people," Squall instructed, looking back at Zell, who quickly meet his gaze.

"'Kay!" Stephen replied eagerly. "I can do it!"

"Then ya gotta be send to a prison," Squall replied, his eyes burning into Zell. And Zell couldn't look away. "Where they tell you you'll never see daylight again."

Zell swallowed hard.

"You dig up a doctor," Squall continued. "Pay him 20 menthol cools to do a surgical shine-job to your eyes.

"So ya can see who's sneaking up on you in the dark?!" Stephen said eagerly.

"Exactly!" Squall replied, turning to smirk at the boy.

"Leave!" Zell snapped at the kid.

Stephen's smile disappeared, frowning at Zell.

"Leave," Zell said softer.

Squall looked from Stephen, back to meet Zell's gaze.

Stephen continued to frown, but he turned and headed out of the cabin.

"Cute kid," Squall said.

Zell just stared at Squall.

"Did I kill a few people?" Squall asked the question for Zell, re-taking his seat in the dark. "Sure. Did I kill Irvine? ... No. You've got the wrong killer."

"He ain't in the hole," Zell said in a harsh tone. "We looked."

"Look deeper," Squall replied.

~*~

Zell bent down looking into the hole that Irvine died in. Turning on a flashlight, see could barely make out a caver about 7 feet into the hole. He swallowed, glancing back at the group of survivors. 

Quistis nodded to Zell, a rope in her hand that lead to Zell's belt, attached tightly. Turning to Seifer, Zell took a deep breath. 

Seifer tried an encouraging smirk, but it was a failed expression. 

Closing his sapphire eyes, Zell shifted his body back to face the hole. Then, his sapphire spheres opening, Zell slowly started to crawl in. 

After four feet, Zell's flashlight caught site of a blood, broken flashlight. Irvine's flashlight. Zell quickly turned his gaze to look further down the tight crawlspace, towards the larger cavern. Swallowing, Zell moved past the dead-man's flashlight, entering the open space. 

Light entered this cavern through small holes in the roof. Probably from those spiral hill-things that were scattered around this area. 

Zell stood tall, his flashlight trailing through the empty space, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. 

Looking up to the spiral-hill funnels, he spoke. "Hallow..." 

Something shifted behind Zell, making a skuttering noise. He quickly turned, flashlight drawn light a sword, pointing toward the sound. But nothing. Then... another skuttering noise from behind him again. Turning, Zell tried to make out what it was. 

Taking a slow, deliberate step forward, Zell listened to his heavy breath. It was the only sound now. Then that same skuttering noise, closer this time, behind Zell. 

He turned, trailing his flashlight along the ground, looking frantically for whatever it was making the noise. And then he saw it. A human lover leg. Only a human lower leg, ripped from the rest of its body. Irvine's body. 

"Fuck..." Zell whispered, his breath getting louder. And then, behind the leg's location, Zell saw a shadow move. 

"Oh fuck..." Zell said in an airy, near-panic voice. He turned, planning on heading back to the crawlspace to leave, but there was another shadow-creature. More visible. 

Zell's entire body froze, his lips dry. There were more. Shadow-creatures. Slithering around in the dark parts of the cavern. 

Frantically, Zell jumped up, grabbing a hold of the inside of the hallowed-spiral funnel, bathing in the daylight, the only light in the dark cavern. Pulling himself up, Zell gets his feel onto the narrow side-walls, pushing himself up, desperate to get out of the darkness. 

The rope attached to Zell's belt suddenly went taut. Looking down Zell wondered what it caught, then, remembering the beasts, Zell wondered if the shadow-creatures were smart enough to try to pull him back down. 

His answer: yes. 

Zell slipped slightly, but didn't drop out of the hallowed-spiral hill. Pulling on the rope, Zell tried to force more slack, but it proved useless as he slide down a little further. 

"I'm in here!" Zell yelled, his nails digging into the walls. "Here! In here!" 

Zell couldn't let go of the wall to release his belt, he'd fall immediately into the shadow-creatures' den. So he continued to yell, but his voice was weakening from fear. 

"Here..." Zell forced out, horror clenching his chest. "In here..." 

He slipped again. 

"Hyne... please," Zell said in a desperate airy voice. Then the side wall of his soon-to-be tomb broke open, the arms of Seifer and Quistis reaching in. Zell jumped into them, letting the two pull him from the hallowed-spiral, into full daylight. 

"Give me your god-damned hand," Seifer growled in a low voice. 

Seifer and Quistis dragged Zell 10 feet from the spiral-hill. 

"I heard you Zell!" Stephen said in a proud voice. "I heard you first!" 

"Did you find Irvine?!" Rinoa asked. 

"Was it is?!" Stephen asked in an excited voice. "What was down there?!" 

Seifer and Quistis let Zell go, leaving the tattooed blonde on his knees to catch his breath. 

"Fuck!" Zell cried, moving to lean over with his hand on the dirt. "Oh, fuck!" 

"Zell? You okay?" Stephen asked in a concerned voice. 

Zell slowly pushed off the ground, still breathing heavily. "It was so fuckin' stupid!" He straighten up to look at the others. "I donno what da fuck is down there... but it got Irvine, and it nearly got meee-" he screamed the last word as his body was flung down, pulling fast back towards the spiral-hill. 

Something had a hold of his rope and was pulling him back. 

Quistis and Seifer ran quickly, catching Zell before he tumbled down to his certain death. 

"Get it off me!" Zell screamed, pulling his body hard against the shadow-creature's tug. "Off! Get it off me!" 

Seifer wrapped his arms around Zell's waist, desperately pulling the tattooed blonde forward. Quistis, meanwhile, unsheathed a dagger, moving it quickly to slice away the rope. 

Seifer and Zell tumbled forward into the dirt as the rope flung down into the darkness, where waiting shadow-creatures jumped, eager for their meal. 

~*~ 

"Finally found something worse then me, huh?" Squall asked, in an almost amused tone. 

"So here's the deal," Seifer replied, looking down at his chained prisoner, his hand on his sheathed gun. "You work without chains, without bit, and without shivs. You do what I say, when I say it." 

"For what?" Squall asked, tilting his head to the side, but keeping his eyes out of the light. "The honor of going back to some asshole of a cell? ... Fuck you." 

Seifer shifted his weight, his sky-blue eyes locked on Squall. "The truth is... I'm tired a' chasin' you." 

Squall looked up, his eyes slightly glittering in the light. "You saying you'd cut me loose?" 

Seifer shrugged his shoulder. "I'm figuring ... you could have died in the crash." 

Squall's face was blank. Stone as ice, his grey-blue spheres still glittering in the light. "My recommendation: Do me. Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass." 

"That right?" Seifer replied, a small sneer building on his face. 

"Ghost me, Mother Fuck. That's what I would do to you." Squall said, his voice pure ice. 

Seifer ripped out his gun and fired at Squall, at Squall's head. 

Squall looked blankly at Seifer, then pulled his arms down to his sides. The chain that had held his arms in place now broken because Seifer had shot it. 

"I want you to remember this moment," Seifer said in a teacher-voice. "The way it coulda gone and didn't." Taking a step forward, Seifer offered Squall his goggles, the dark goggles that kept out the bright sun-light. "Here." 

Squall looked blankly at the goggles, then slowly reached forward. But the he jumped up, snatching Seifer's gun from the blonde's hands. Suddenly, Seifer was staring at his own shotgun's gun-barrels. 

"Hey now," Seifer mumbled. 

"Fuck you!" Squall snapped, pumping the gun to fire. 

Seifer held his hands up, blue-eyes locked with the glittering spheres. "We have a deal?" Seifer asked. 

Squall let the idea rearrange in his mind before saying "I want you to remember this moment." He then dropped the gun to land heavily on the floor, ripping his goggles away from Seifer and walking out of the dark-cabin. 

---------------------------------------------------------- 

**// So sorry this chapter sucked. Few good places (like the end scene with Seifer/Squall here, I like that), but all around, it sucks. I was half-asleep when I wrote it, so... sorry! ... I'll do better next time.**

**// ~*Julie, xoxo**


	6. Why'd they Leave the Ship?

//Pitch Black: Chapter 6// 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Zell turned the switch, releasing the power cell from the crashed-ship battery bay.

Quistis took hold of the power cell, pulling it further out until it _thumped_ onto the ground.

"One only?" Quistis asked Zell.

Zell nodded. "For now."

*******

The blue sun was now one with the horizon. It had set, and the yellow and red suns had risen up.

The survivors desperately trekked onward, looking anxiously for the settlement. Zell and Quistis lugged the power cell between them, showing that the young priestess, too, had strength. But alas, most of the load was shouldered by…Squall.

Promoted from murderous monster to beast of burden, the young man towed a drag-sled heavy with cargo.

"So…" Nida began, looking over at Seifer. "That's it. You just…wave your little wand and he's one of us."

"Never said that," Seifer replied. "But at least this way I don't have to worry about falling asleep and not wakin' up."

"Well, I feel as though we owe Mr. Squall restoration," Quistis declared.

"Oh, right. "Let's all line up and beg for him to forgive us. Right you are!" Rinoa stated, her voice rich with sarcasm.

"At least give the poor man some oxygen," Quistis suggested.

"So…Uh, can I talk to him now?" Stephen asked.

"No," Seifer and Rinoa said in unison.

The group continued moving along, dragging the cargo, waiting to reached the settlement.

Nida held onto some of his own belongings, being the overly pampered lad he was. He dropped a wine bottle, and chased after it eagerly.

It _was_ expensive.

But Squall was the one who had picked it up first. He looked at the wine bottle, and then at Nida.

Nida swallowed, not really wanting to be so close to a man as dangerous as Squall.

"Nida B. Amirose. Antiques dealer, entrepreneur," Nida greeted, shaking Squall's hand.

"Squall L. Leonheart. Escaped convict, murderer," Squall replied, returning the handshake.

Instead of returning Nida's bottle, Squall opened it, drinking it hungrily.

"Oh, but it's expensive…" Nida pleaded, looking at how Squall devoured it.

"…" Squall said nothing, simply looking at the feeble man through those dark goggles.

"…Oh, but go right ahead," Nida said, smiling nervously.

And with that, he hurried over to catch up to the others.

"You know," Nida began. "If I owned Hell and this planet…I really think I'd rent this one out and live in Hell."

*******

Zell walked ahead, looking at all the spires. Those strange…beautiful, in a twisted way…towers of earth.

The group fell silent, their eyes staring out at the vast canyon. Their eyes focused on the spires.

Clickity-click.

Zell stopped short, having heard that strange noise…He felt the hairs on his neck beginning to rise. But…then the sound disappeared.

The group started moving again. Faster, this time.

Clickity-clickity-click.

Were they being stalked?

Nervously, Zell traced the sound back to where it had come from. He followed it intently, and finally found the source of it…

It was just colorful beads dangling Zamzi's belt.

Whenever he'd move, the strings would clack together.

Zell shook his head, feeling stupid after getting so worked up over nothing…

*******

"I…I can usually appreciate antiques, but, uh…" Nida trailed off.

The survivors had finally reached the settlement. Zell tried desperately to get the power cell aboard the skiff as the others walked among its exterior.

"Little ratty-ass," Seifer mused.

"Nothing we can't repair," Zell said. "So…so as long as the electrical adapts."

"Not a star-jumper," Rinoa replied.

"Doesn't need to be," Squall informed. "Use this thing to get back to the Sol-Track Shipping Lanes, stick out a thumb. Then you'll get picked up." He looked over at Zell, smiling slightly. "Right?"

Zell looked over at the brunette, and then at Seifer.

"How the hell did he know 'dat?"

"A little help here?" Zell asked.

And with that, Seifer and Zell muscled the power cell aboard. Squall started to follow, but Seifer rudely blocked. He didn't want Squall inside.

"Check those containers for me," Seifer commanded. "See what we can patch the damned wings with."

The Trepies desperately worked on the moisture-recovery unit, wanting so badly to fix the water system. They used religious fervor, hoping at their Hyne could help them in their time of desperation.

Zell and Seifer adapted the power cell with their hands, working it onto the skiff's older electrical system. The lights began to wink brightly throughout the small ship.

"Okay…'dat should buy us a sys-check," Zell began. "But we need more cells."

"How many?" Seifer inquired.

"15 6-gigs here…90 gigs total…'Da other ship carries 20-gig cells, so…five. Five total to launch," Zell answered.

"So 25 kilos each, huh?" Seifer replied.

Rinoa walked up to the young men, her black hair dancing softly in the hot desert breeze.

"There's an old sand-cat outside," she revealed. "See if I can't get it up and chuggin'."

"Do it," Seifer demanded. "And if you need an extra hand…"

Seifer looked out, and couldn't see the ex-prisoner anywhere.

"Where's Squall?"

*******

Squall walked in the ghost town, looking at all the dead gardens…There were upended chairs and furniture. Broken skylights…

Behind his back, Stephen and Gazna scurried behind him, stalking the 'curious monster in their midst.'

Back at the moisture-recovery unit, the other Trepies faced charge with anticipation while they waited. Waited for the first drop of water…which finally came.

It appeared at the bottom of a pipette. Desperate tongues fought for it. Another drop fell. Then another…and then another.

The Trepies cheered, ecstatic that they had fixed the broken device with their Hyne.

*******

In the main room, Nida was readying to celebrate. He unwrapped crystal goblets, and then dusted off the dirty refectory table. Then he re-hung an old Christmas garland, smiling slightly at it.

Outside, hands dug in the dirt. Covertly, Stephen and Gazna watched Squall suspiciously, digging near the entrance of a tall, windowless structure.

He excavated a pair of broken eyeglasses…a shattered light…and a child's tin robot, Timeless.

Squall thumbed a solar panel clean of dirt. The robot's language program warbled to life.

"…To all intruders. I am the guardian of this land. I will protect my master at all costs. Death to all intruders…" it voiced.

Squall stood up, trying to open the doors of the mysterious structure. They were locked. He peered in through a small, filthy window.

Is there something moving inside?

Nothing now…

Squall removed some windblown trash from a door-side sign. It read "Coring Room."

"You're missin' the party," a voice replied. "C'mon."

Squall looked back. It was Seifer…keeping him on a short leash. Seifer patted his thigh, as though he were calling a dog, then he turned and left.

Squall reached up and took hold of an old tarp handing over the Corning Room wall. He pulled it down, turning to look at Stephen. 

"C'mon," Squall said to the 12 year old. "You're missin' the party." Then he turned and walked back to Seifer.

"Ah, shit," Stephen mumbled.

Gazna stood at the bottom of the coring room. He'd found a way inside. By the window's feeble light, he starts exploring. Straining through the darkness, he could see a vertical coring drill.

Quistis looked over at Nida, who'd just realized the Trepies had repaired the water-moisture unit.

"And for this…our gift of drink," Quistis began. "We give thanks in the name of our Goddess, Shiva, peace be upon her. And to our Lord, Hyne of Shumi, and to his father, Eden the Compassionate and the Merciful."

"What a _strange_ religion," Nida murmured, taken aback by Quistis' words.

The Trepies finished pouring cloudy water into Nida's goblets. Squall got the last of it…the part with the sediment. They drank hungrily at the water, having been parched for quite some time.

Nothing had ever tasted so good.

"Perhaps we should toast to our hosts," Nida suggested. "Who were these people, anyway? Miners, perhaps?"

"Looks like geologists," Rinoa replied. "You know, advanced team. They move around from rock to rock."

"Musta' crapped out here, huh?" Seifer asked, grinning slightly.

"But why did they leave their ship?" Stephen asked, looking over at Seifer.

A strange silence fell. It was a question no one had chosen to deal with yet. A question…that no one really knew the answer for. A question…they feared oh so much.

Deep down…all of them wondered…

Why _did_ they leave their ship?

…Or were they forced from it?


	7. Under Strain

//Pitch Black: Chapter 7// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

"Its not a ship, its a skiff," Seifer said. "And its disposable, really."

"Yeah," Nida agreed. "Like an emergency life-raft, really."

Quistis looked out the window, a frown on her forehead.

"They probably had a big ship take them off planet," Rinoa joined the conversation.

"These people didn't leave," Squall said, his voice silencing the entire room. "C'mon. Whatever got Irvine got them. They're all dead."

Zell, sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, looked over to Squall. Squall turned to look at the rest of the group, moving his goggles back over his eyes. 

"You don't really think they left with their close on the hooks," Squall continued, leaning against a wall. "Photos on the shelves?"

"Maybe they had weight limits," Rinoa said, leering at Squall. "You don't know."

"I know you don't prep your emergency ship unless their a fucking emergency," Squall replied with a small smile.

"He's fuckin' right," Stephen agreed.

"Watch your mouth," Seifer snapped at the little kid.

"Hey, he's just saying what we're all thinking," Zell said softly, shifting his legs to relax a little. "So... what do you think happened-"

"Has anyone seen the little one?!" Quistis asked in a desperate voice. "Gazna?!"

"Anyone checked the Corning Room?" Squall asked.

~*~

Gazna walked through the dark Corning Room, scared but curious. 

Then, suddenly, the massive machine turned on because of some remote or timer, light coming into the room as the closed blinds opened. The rafters at the top of the ceiling began to move. 

Gazna's eyes widened, seeing the sunlight fill the room at his a thick nest of... monsters. Hawk-sized flying creatures in a giant nest handing at the top of the rafters. And as the light hits the small-creatures, they burst into the air, screeching filling the room.

He burst into an all out run, trying to find somewhere safe. Quicky he opened the door to a pitch-black side room, jumping in. 

A soft growling sound came from behind Gazna. He turned slowly and , even in the dark of the room, Gazna was able to make out another nest of those Hawk-sized flying monsters. 

He screamed.

~*~

The sound of someone screaming filled the ears of everyone in the small room where the survivors had been drinking their water.

"Ganza!" Quistis said in a panic voice, running out.

She was quickly followed after by the others.

~*~

Seifer shot out the lock on the Corning Room doors. He then kicked the door open, then slowly made his way inside.

"Ganza!" Quistis said, stepping further into the room. "Ganza?"

Seifer grabbed her arm, meaning to keep her back, but Quistis shrugged him off. The priestess walked further into the darkened room.

"Stephen, wait!" Zell said, taking a hold of the boy's arm. 

Stephen sneered at Zell, but followed his direction.

While Quistis walked through the room, the others hovered around the doors.

A clicking sound coming from a closed door caught the mika's attention. She turned and slowly wrapped her fingers around the door handle, pulling the doors open.

Small creatures burst from the room, flying high into the air. Quistis dropped to the groun.

Seifer turned, shoving Zell and Stephen back outside, then grabbed the door quickly, shutting them as he stepped out of the corning room. 

The creatures swirled around the room a few times before flying high, then straight down into the circular pit what was the center of the room.

Seifer pushed the door open, holding his gun up to watch the last of the creatures disappear into the darkness of the pit.

"Quistis?" Seifer called.

"Quistis?" Zell repeated, but his voice was in a low whisper.

Quistis looked back to the dark room that the creatures had flown out of. On her knees, she swallowed, beginning to inch closer. Then... Ganza's body fell out into the light. His skin ripped from his bone, eyes eaten from the sockets, tongue gone from his mouth.

Quistis cried out in horror.

~*~

Out in the bright light of the blue sun, Quistis sat with her two surviving Trepies at the grave of Ganza, whispering Japanese words words, prayers to the Gods. 

Keep Ganza safe in the afterlife.

~*~

Zell pressed the bottom of a flare, the green light sparkling brightly. He dropped it into the pit, watching the light get swallowed by darkness. Then it hit bottom, were a pile of human skeletons lay.

Zell looked up at Seifer, whose eyes were squinting in thought. Rinoa stood next to the pit, also looking to Seifer for leadership.

"Other buildings weren't secure," Squall said, getting the attention of the three others. He was inside the pit, though only a level down on a metal man-made ledge, easily able to jump out if need be. "So they ran here. Heaviest doors. Thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar."

Rinoa sneered, horrified, shaking her head. She took a few steps back from the pit, eyes glazing over in worry.

Seifer looked down at Squall, a small amused smirk on his face.

Zell watched Squall, but also the blackened-pit past the convict.

"So that's whats come of my Irvine?" Rinoa asked, watching Squall pull himself out of the pit. "An' you saw it. You were right there. You were tryin' to kill him too."

Squall shrugged. "Just wanted his O-2 breather. Though I noticed he tried to ghost my ass. When he shot up that stranger instead."

Rinoa looked away from Squall, not being able to deny that. Looking back to Squall, Rinoa removed her breather. "Take it."

"What, its broken?" Squall replied, his dark-goggles hiding the glare.

"I'm startin' ta acclimate, anyhow," Rinoa replied. "Take it..."

Squall accepts it awkwardly, watching Rinoa walk away. He catches sight of the angry glare Seifer was giving him. Squall has just been promoted to an oxygen-breathing human, Seifer was not pleased.

~*~

Zell stood in the sample room of the settlement. He looked over the dates, wondering exactly when these people were killed. 

Seifer stepped up behind Zell, watching the tattooed blonde. "Whatever the fuck those creatures were, they seem to stick to dark, so I say: we stick to daylight, we'll be just fine. 'Kay, lets go." He turned and started to walk out of the room.

"31 years ago," Zell muttered, looking at the final sample.

"What?" Seifer asked, turning to look back to Zell.

"These last rock-samples are dated, last one is 31 years ago this month," Zell said, turning to meet Seifer's blue eyes.

"'Kay, is there something special about that, Zell?" Seifer asked.

"I donno... maybe," Zell thought it over then remembered the orrery. That model of this solar system. His eyes widened as he turned to run out of the room.

Seifer frowned, but followed.

~*~

Zell turned the orrery around, letting the years click by, watching the plants and suns twirl around the center plant. This planet.

28... 29... 30... 31.

Zell stopped the orrery, standing up straight to look down at the model. His eyes widened. 

Seifer stood next to Zell, looking down at the center planet.

Quistis sighed heavily, looking up to Zell and Seifer.

Squall smiled in his little dark corner of the room.

The center planet was completely dark. An eclipse of the large planets forced the center planet into total darkness. And, if the model was correct, that meant that sometimes _this_ month, this plant would fall into Pitch Black.

Zell reached over and moved the model a little, watching how long the darkness would last. Again if the model was correct, it looked like the black would last.... months.

Zell looked back to Seifer, but turned to Squall when the convict spoke.

"You're not afraid of the dark, are you?" Squall said with a smirk.

~*~

Zell crossed the dirt yard, moving in wide strides, heading toward the Skiff-ship.

Seifer followed.

"...need those cells from the crash ship," Zell said. "Shit, still gotta check out the hull, patch the wings."

"Why don't we wait on the power cells," Seifer replied.

"Wait? Wait for what?" Zell asked, continuing his face movements to the Skiff. "Until its so dark we can't find our way back?!"

"We're not sure _when_ it happens, so let's not get over excited," Seifer tried to push his point.

"_Get the fucking cells over here_, Almasy," Zell said, stopping and turning to look at Seifer. "W-what's the discussion?" 

"Maybe I should tell you how Squall escaped?" Seifer asked, putting his thumbs into the pockets of his pants.

~*~

Zell sat in the pilot seat of the Skiff looking over at Seifer. "He can pilot?!"

"Hijacked a prison transport," Seifer said with a nod. "Made a helluva good run before I tracked him down."

Zell licked his lips, thinking it over quickly. "Okay... m-maybe that's a _good_ thing... Maybe we can use him to help navigate or something."

"He also figured out how to kill the pilot, Dincht," Seifer said, shifting his weight.

Zell swallowed. "You said we could trust him now. You said you had a deal."

"You may have noticed, but chains don't work on this guy," Seifer replied, his eyes cold. "Now the only way you people are truly safe is if he believes he's going free. Lets just say he stops believein'-"

"You mean," Zell interrupted. "If he realizes we're going to royally fuck him over-"

"Now why don't you just listen to me for a second," Seifer jumped in. "If we bring the cells over at the last possible minute... when the wings are ready, when we _know_ we're ready to launch-"

"You know he hasn't harmed any of us," Zell said. "As far I can tell, he hasn't even lied to us. Just stick to the deal, Almasy." Zell sat back in his chair.

"He's a killer!" Seifer snapped, glaring at Zell. "The lay says he's gotta do his time. There's nothin' I can do about that. You here me?"

"You're dancing on razor blades here," Zell replied, shaking his head.

"I won't give him a chance to grab another ship," Seifer said. "Or to slash another pilot's throat. Not on my watch." He turned and walked out of the Skiff, Zell watching for a moment before the tattooed blonde turned back to work on setting up the ship's computer program.

Seifer felt dizzy. He swayed a little on his feet, able to make it out of the Skiff just in time to lean over and try to control a flu-like shiver.

"Bad sigh," Squall said, sitting on the dirt in the shade of the Skiff-wing's shade. He held a knife, dragging the sharp edge across the tip of his thumbnail. "Shaking like that in this head."

"I... thought..." Seifer started, feeling really dizzy, trying to gain his composed. "No shivs."

Squall looked surprised at the knife in his hand. 'This?" he asked Seifer. "Why... this is just a personal grooming item."

Seifer watched Squall for a moment, then turned and walked away.

Squall smirked at Seifer, continuing to pluck at his thumbnail. 

~*~

The hatch to the Skiff closes, sealing the ship tightly.

Zell looked down at the monitor in front of him, reading: "Hull integrity test."

"Looks like we're a few shy..." Squall's soft voice startles Zell.

The tattooed blonde whirled around to see that he's currently trapped inside the Skiff, alone with Squall.

"...power cells," Squall continued, smirking at Zell.

"They're coming," Zell replied, eyeing Squall, trying not to panic.

"Strange," Squall said, taking a step forward. "Not doing a run-up on the main drive yet. Unless..." Squall took another step forward. "Unless Almasy told you the particulars of my escape."

"I got the quick-and-ugly version," Zell said, moving to sit back into his seat.

"An' now you're worried about a repeat of history?" Squall said with a small smile.

"It has entered out minds," Zell replied.

"I asked what _you_ thought," Squall said, taking another slow step forward.

"You scare me, Squall. That's what you wanna hear, isn't it?" Zell asked, his voice getting slightly stronger, confidence returning. "Can I get back to work now?!" Zell turned his chair back to look at the monitor, looking over the ship's system details.

Squall closed the space between Zell and himself, leaning down on the pilot chair, looking at the monitors. "I've been meaning to catch-up with you alone. Under strain... You... you think Almasy is a do-right-man? You think I can trust him to cut me loose" Squall leaned further forward so his breath beat on Zell's shoulder.

"W-why?" Zell asked, his confidence suddenly on shaky grounds again. "What'd you hear?"

"Well," Squall said softly, moving to take the co-pilot seat and meet Zell's face, still leaning forward to be close to Zell. "I guess it it were just trickeration he's just ex-me-out, huh? Kill me? Then again... I _am_ worth _twice as much alive_."

Zell felt his eyes suddenly widened.

Squall moved forward on his seat, smirking at Zell. "Oh? You didn't know that?"

Zell swallowed, finding himself frozen under Squall's words.

"Your Almasy ain't a cop," Squall continued. He moved a hand to caress over Zell's jaw line. "Oh, he's got the nickel-slick badge, and that blue uniform... but he's just a mercenary. And I'm just a payday." Squall moved his hand to Zell's jacket, tracing a finger over the fabric. "That's why he won't kill me, you see? The creed is greed-"

"Don't waste!" Zell snapped, "my time. We aren't gonna turn on each other, no matter how hard you try." With that, Zell turned his chair back to the dash, flipping a few switches, going back to work.

Squall pushed up from the co-pilot chair, leaning over to Zell. "I don't truly know what will happen when the lights go out, Zell. What I do know is that when the dying stars... this little psycho-fuck-family of ours is gonna rip itself apart."

Squall stood tall, turning and walking down the Skiff walkway, towards the hull-doors.

Zell felt his body relax.

"Ever wonder why Almasy shakes like that?" Squall asked.

Zell's body tighten again.

"Ask him," Squall insisted. "And ask him why your crew-pal had to scream so painfully before she died."

"Hull 100% integrity" flash on the view monitor. Then the hull-doors opened and Squall left Zell to his thoughts.

~*~


	8. Rinoa and the Light's End

//Pitch Black: Chapter 8// 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Two hands selected a reddish metal shotgun shell from a box. They pulled the shell open, and removed a glass ampule hidden on the inside. They dropped it into an injection syringe. The syringe touched an eager arm vein.

"Who are you? Really?" Zell asked, looking into the room.

Seifer looked up, without a shirt, a strange smile on his lips.

"You ain't a real cop, huh," Zell continued. "Jus some…mercenary who goes around talkin' bout the law like-"

"I never said I was," Seifer said coolly.

"Never said you was a hype, either."

Zell moved closer, his blue eyes focusing on what Seifer was doing.

Seifer rummaged through his stuff brazenly. Zell saw a shit-load of red shells with hidden ampules.

"You have a little caffeine in the morning. I have a little morphine. So what?" Seifer replied.

"An' here ya got two mornings everyday," Zell replied. "Shit. Were ya _born_ lucky?"

"Hey, it's not a problem unless you're gonna' make-" Seifer began, but was cut off by Zell.

"_You_ made it a problem when ya let Xu die like that!" Zell cried. "When ya had enough drugs to knock out a fuckin' blitz ball team."

"Xu was already dead," Seifer said. "Her brain just hadn't caught onto the fact yet."

"Anything _else_ we should know bout ya, Almasy?" Zell inquired, his voice rich with disgust. "Hyne, here I am, lettin' you play games with our lives when-"

Seifer grabbed Zell's hands, moving them around his body, forcing him into an unwanted embrace.

Zell's hands were placed near Seifer's spine. A jagged purple scar was right beside his spine.

"My first run-in with Squall," Seifer replied. "He went for the sweet spot and missed. They had to leave a piece of the shiv in there. I can feel it, sometimes… Pressing against the cord."

Seifer gave Zell his hands back, a strange look on his face.

"So maybe the care of my nerve endings is _my_ business," Seifer finished.

"You coulda' helped," Zell began. "An' ya didn't."

Outside, the remaining Trepies were jabbering Japanese, calling out "Captain, Captain…"

"Yeah, well look to thine own ass, first. Right, _Captain_? It cuts deep," Seifer growled.

And with that, Zell and Seifer moved outside. All the others had already gathered. Their eyes were all locked on… a mysterious arch, climbing across the sky.

Luminous, ominous, and brighter than a morning dawn, it grew out from the horizon. Like an ethereal bridge of some sort.

"What do my eyes see?" Nida asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's starting…" Zell trailed off.

They watched, as if hypnotized, looking in awe as the arched rose. It inched eagerly towards the two suns.

Rinoa shook out of the trance first.

"If we need anything from the crash ship," Rinoa began. "I suggest we kick on. That sand-cat's solar."

*******

The group prepared hastily, desperate to race against the eclipse blooming in the sky.

Rinoa cranked the sand-cat, making sure it was ready for the journey.

People gathered lights, water, and ropes.

The two Trepies piled aboard the sand-cat.

"Let's get those cells!" Zell cried.

The sand-cat started to move, being driven by Rinoa. Nida and Stephen were running, catching up to the small vehicle.

"We'll stay together!" Rinoa yelled. "C'mon!"

"Where's Squall?!" Stephen asked.

"Leave him!" Nida said.

Squall then jumped onto the rear bed, looking to Nida.

Nida tried to fight off a look of fear. "Thought we lost you..."

Seifer turned away from Nida.

Seifer doubled back, grabbing his shotgun shells. Then he swung out the door, catching up to the sand-cat.

Squall reeled him aboard.

"Don't wanna' miss this," Squall said to Seifer.

"Look-at-it," Stephen declared. "Look-at-it!"

Stephen pointed eagerly at the explosive lights in the sky. A luminous arch crawling around a planet, acting as it's rings.

The sand-cat stormed through a vast canyon. It passed through the massive ribcage in the bone yard.

Stephen was still awe-struck by the beautiful lights in the sky.

"Watch your head," Squall said calmly to the young boy.

Stephen turned, looking at how low the ribs were compared to him. He ducked down just in time.

The roll cage smashed out some low-bridge bones.

The sand-cat finally reached the crash ship. Various bodies leapt off.

Nida steals a look at… The rising planet. It cruelly threatens to block out the suns…The skies…The universe.

In the battery bay of the crashed ship, Seifer yanked out the first power cell. He drug it over the deck. Squall yanked a second cell and, carrying it on his shoulder, passed Seifer with a 'kiss-my-ass' grin. Seifer shouldered his cell and stumbled after.

Rinoa wheeled the sand-cat around, getting clearance between it and the ship.

The Trepies lashed a scrap-metal sled to the sand-cat.

Squall dropped the first cell onto the sled, Seifer doing the same with the second.

They were racing the eclipse _and_ each other.

"You'll wait for me?" Nida asked, scurrying towards the cargo-cabin that held his belongs. It was 35 feet away from the main crash site.

"Where are you going?" Rinoa asked, frowning at the man.

Nida turned from his half-run pace. "Just to get a few things!"

"Alright..." Rinoa said, watching him then turning back to look at the fading light.

The rings of the planet eclipsed the yellow sun, blocking out the light. The sky turned to dusk. It was as if Hyne had just closed a blind. The daylight slowly dimmed. The change in light brought a growing high-pitched sound from the sand-cat.

"Don't stop, don't stop…" Zell pleaded to the solar powered vehicle.

Stephen simply couldn't help himself from looking at the Spired hills. Where Irvine died. Where Zell was almost killed. The spires. Those horrible, horrible spires.

As the rings eclipsed the red sun, a second darkness sweeps over the survivors.

Now all of them stopped, beholding spired hills. The deep dusk.

Something started pouring from the spire-tops.

Back-lit by coronal light, it first seemed to be smoke or ash of some sort…but soon they all realized it was living things. Hatchlings…squealing in delight over their first nightfall.

"Hyne," Seifer whispered. "How many can there…"

They just kept coming. They filled the sky with thick waves.

Mercifully, the screeching hatchlings seemed to be moving away. But then one wave cleaved from another…and did a quick about-face.

"Just a suggestion," Nida began, yelling from the doorway of the cargo-cabin, someway away from the others. "But perhaps you should flee?!"

"Cargo hold!" Zell cried. "Everyone! Get into da' cargo hold! Les' go, les' go, les' go!"

Rinoa paused, still sitting in the drivers chair of the sand-cat. She breathed, unable to move. She forced herself to speak. "Shit!" Swallowing, she jumped from the vehicle, finally starting to run in a full sprint towards the cargo-cabin.

They ran. Ran away, _desperately_ from the tiny beasts. Most of the group reached the cargo hold, turning back to see Squall and Rinoa still coming.

They heard the squealing wave of hatchlings descending upon them.

Squall and Rinoa hit to the dirt. The baby monsters torrent just inches overhead.

Rinoa was terrified. She was having trouble breathing. It was as if she were underwater. The fear was just too much to handle.

Squall just watched in awe, no more frightened than a kid lying on his back, looking up at a beautiful starlit night.

Experimenting, he eased a bone-shiv into the hatchlings. Instantly it whittled down to nothing. It was like a river of razor blades.

The hatchlings just kept coming.

Rinoa whipped a panicky look at the cargo hold.

Could she make it?

Should she even try?

"Tell her to stay there," Stephen murmured. "Stay down…"

Rinoa started worming, eager to make it to the cargo hold.

"Rinoa!" Stephen cried. "Stay down, Rinoa!"

Suddenly, the hatchlings vanished. Was it safe?

Rinoa got to her feet and started in a sprint to the cargo-cabin.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Zell whispered.

Then the wave returned, enveloping Rinoa.

Rinoa gave out a desperate scream, falling to her feet. The baby monsters bit at her, clawing at her. They didn't want her to escape.

Giving out a grunt of effort, Rinoa tried desperately to escape them. She tried moving, yet more and more continued to claw onto her.

The survivors watched in pure horror, amazed at how many beasts there were.

Rinoa couldn't fight any longer. There were just too many hatchlings. They lifted her away, and her screams became more and more muffled.

Then, the others looked away, hearing Rinoa's horrified screams as she was ripped in half. Her screams rang out, sending chills up their spines.

A sea of blood fell from the sky, landing on the ground.

Rinoa's blood.

And then the hatchlings flew away, taking Rinoa's mutilated body with them.

Still on the ground, Squall checked left and right like someone about to cross a busy street. He got up, smacking his hands clean. Then he ran for the hold. Behind him…A rising gang-clicking noise.

Zell knew that sound better than anyone. That horrid fucking sound…

The spired hills, outlined by the shadowy dusk.

The spires were crumbling, being torn down from within.

Squall reached the cargo hold, and then turned around for one last look. He shed his goggles, looking at the world with his jeweled eyes.

In degraded images, he could see the predators – adult versions of those flying hatchlings – emerging from the spires. They were large, mammalian, hammer-headed. With razor-sharp claws… They clicked with echo-location, sounding out the world they hadn't inhabited for 31 years.

"What is it?" Zell asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "What's happening out there?"

Squall continued to watch the terrible beats. The predators launched themselves from the hills, gliding, sounding, searching.

"It's like I said," Squall replied. "It ain't me you gotta' worry about."


	9. Jeweled Night Vision

//Pitch Black: Chapter 9// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Inside the dark cargo-cabin, Seifer turned on the light attached to his gun. Nida flicked his cigarette lighter, but he was nervous and it wouldn't light. Quistis had a flashlight in her hand, the light added little to the black.

"She should have stayed down," Stephen said softly. "If... she'd only stayed down... she'd be okay. She wouldn't have died."

"Remember the bone yard?" Seifer asked. "These might just be the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet."

Seifer scanned over the dark lit hallway of the cargo-cabin.

"What are we gonna do now?" Stephen asked.

Nida's cigarette lighter finally lit into flame.

"Are these the only lights we have?" Nida asked in a nervous voice. "Is this everything?"

"Naw, there a cuttin' torch somewhere on the floor here," Zell said. "Jus ain't spotted it."

Seifer took a slow step towards the dark of the cramped space, his light leading the way.

An echo sounded from outside the cabin. The creatures were calling. Searching. Hungry.

"Quiet please everyone," Quistis said.

Nuvy leaned towards the closed door, listening to the outside sounds. Quistis next to the young girl, listening as well.

Stephen joined them, leaning heavily on the closed cargo-cabin door. Zell stood close to the young boy.

More calls echoed from the shadow-creatures, closer.

"Why do they do that? Make that sound?" Stephen asked, his young voice betraying his bravery - exposing his fear.

"Perhaps its the way they see," Quistis suggested. "With sound reflecting back."

Clanking from else where in the small cabin made everyone jump. The two light beams scanned around the hallway, searching for danger.

The clanking continued, down near the other end of the hallway.

Squall stepped forward, in front of Seifer, looking with his jeweled night-vision. He didn't see anything. Seifer's light beam shot forward, he: standing close to Squall. 

Zell stood a foot behind Seifer, to the right, trying to see. Quistis next to him, the mika's flashlight beam trying to help look for the clanking. The nose that betrayed the shadow-creature's location. Inside the cargo cabin.

"Could be a breach in the hull, I donno," Zell said, stepping up again, next to Seifer - still behind Squall.

Echoes began to fill the room, the clanking of creatures scurrying continued.

"Come on, Almasy," Squall said with a small smile, his voice taunting. "You've got the big gauge."

Zell looked at Seifer, who's gun was up - ready to fire. Seifer shook his head.

"I'd rather piss glass," Seifer replied. "Why don't you go fuckin' check?"

"I'm not staying here one more second!" Nida said in a panic voice, turning to open the cargo-cabin door.

"Where are you going?!" Seifer snapped, turning his attention from the dark to the artifact dealer. "Hey, hey, hey!"

Nida grabbed the bar handle to the door, and started to turn it.

Quistis ripped Nida's hand from the handle.

"Nida? Nida!" Zell called, turning to help Quistis control the panicked man. 

"Sit him down," Seifer said, pulling Nida's arm to easily push the man onto the ground.

Quistis glared down at Nida.

"You donno what's out there!" Zell snapped, taking Nida's shirt, glaring into his eyes.

Quistis turned to force open a door that led further into the cargo-cabin with a crowbar.

"I know what's in here!" Nida replied, plainly afraid.

Nuvy, now holding the flashlight, turned away from Nida - putting a spotlight on Quistis and the crowbar, helping the mika see better to open the door.

Squall still stood in the same place as before, his jeweled night-vision scanned into the dark space. He ignored everything that went on behind him. Who cared about those freaks. As he'd said before - When the dying starts, this psycho-fuck family would tear itself apart. And it had begun.

The door Quistis had been working on open, the priestess nearly falling forward. Regaining her balance, she called in Japanese to her two Trepies to enter into the room. "Hurry!" she said in English to the rest of the surviving group.

Zell entered the room after the two young Trepies, looking around. Seifer followed the tattooed blonde, his light beam scanning the room quickly, gun ready.

Stephen and Nida hurried after, followed by Quistis - then finally Squall slowly walked in.

Quistis closed the door, clicking the lock into place.

Hissing. Close hissing. Hungry. The shadow creatures were _very_ close now.

"Now we're trapped in a much smaller space!" Nida complained. "I hate this!"

Everyone stayed quiet. 

Zell took Stephen's arm, protecting the 12 year old boy. Zell's sapphire eyes strained to see in the dark.

Standing next to a wall Seifer sneered, his blue eyes following the light, checking around.

Something banged hard against the door, startling Quistis to fall forward. As she fell forward, she grabbed Zell, the young pilot gasping in surprise.

Everyone quickly turned to look at the door, which now had a nice hole in it.

Nida, still holding his cigarette lighter up, nearly screamed when something burst into flames. It was the cutting torch. And Squall was holding it.

Seifer fired a few rounds at the door. Squall - near the opposite wall - used the cutting torch to make an opening. They needed to get out of this room. It was a death trap. This entire cargo-cabin was a death trap.

Not a moment later, the wall had a hole large enough for a human body to crawl though.

Squall entered the new room first, followed by Zell - who now was holding the cutting torch. Squall moved a couple boxes, his jeweled eyes searching for danger.

Stephen and Nida entered the room after Zell.

Squall stepped forward, not really looking worried at all. Simply strolling through the Pitch Dark.

Zell stayed next to the hole, cutting torch up to light the room.

Quistis crawled through next, followed by her two Trepies. And finally Seifer.

Squall continued down the dark of the room, still looking like a man strolling in a park on a summer day. His eyes were sharp, noting everything around him. All the shapes of the boxes sitting around the room - and anything that might be out of place.

Seifer let go of his gun, it falling to his side - still attached to him by a strap. 

Quistis and Seifer moved a few heavy boxes in front of the hole, Zell still holding the cutting torch up to light the area.

Squall now stood in near pitch black. Zell's light flicking on the other side of the pile of boxes. 

Squall stopped, his ears picking up the sound of gnawing. He turned slowly, looking up. 

Sitting at the top of a stack of boxes was one of the shadow-creatures. It was eating another, smaller one. Squall took a slow step back, moving to stand in-between two stacks of boxes, hiding himself, careful to keep his eyes on the shadow-creature.

The others, finished barricading the hole in the wall, now began to explore the room as Squall had done. Zamzi being the one who'd followed Squall's path.

Zamzi carelessly walked down between the rows of box stacks, ignorant of the close danger.

A piece of _something_ fell next to Zamzi, startling the boy back. He looked up to the top of the box stack, seeing one of the shadow-creatures.

It hissed.

"Extremely bad timing," Squall said to the young boy, stepping a single step out of the darkness, getting closer to Zamzi.

Zamzi turned and looked at Squall, panic controlling the young boy's movements.

On the other side of the room, in as much light as they group had, Zell stood next to Seifer.

They heard the hissing sound and the room _felt_ of fear. Horror. It _felt_ as though something bad was about to happen.

Seifer held his gun against his shoulder, ready to fire.

"Squall?" Zell called, moving the cutting torch a little to try to see better.

"Just don't run," Squall said to Zamzi.

Zamzi stared at the shadow-creature, his breath very loud, very scared.

"Don't start running," Squall instructed the boy.

"Take this!" Zell said to Seifer, handing the large blonde the cutting torch.

"Here," Seifer replied, pulling the flashlight off his gun for Zell.

Seifer turned away from Zell, moving quickly to cut another hole in a different wall. They still needed to move. Still needed to get away. Danger was still close. And they were still trapped in a _very_ bad place.

Zell held the flashlight up, scanned the beam through the darkness.

Clanking of another shadow-creature approaching sounded _behind_ Squall and Zamzi's location. The box behind Zamzi shook. He looked up to see another shadow-creature standing there, looking down.

It hissed. Then the shadow-creature across from the two hissed back.

Squall slowly, carefully, stepped back into the back between the box-stacks. Zamzi would have to take-care of himself.

"Zamzi?" Quistis called. "Where is Zamzi?" she asked Nuvy.

Then they heard hissing. Stephen looked at Quistis, eyes wide in fear.

Zamzi's panic had taken over completely. He ran.

The shadow-creatures shreaked, leaping forward - after Zamzi.

Squall watched the two shadow-creatures and Zamzi. Not half a second later Zamzi stopped dead. Literally. A third shadow-creature standing on the floor in front of Zamzi dove forward and ripped through the boy.

Zamzi's body was ripped in half, his upper body flinging forward, his legs falling dead where he'd been standing. Blood splattered the area.

A shadow-creature jumped off the box stacks, straight at the third one, tumbling the two into a wrestle. Then the other jumped forward, joining in the wrestling.

Squall stepped out of the darkness and into the path, watching the three creatures fighting for food.

Hissing purred from behind Squall.

Everyone (minus Squall and the now dead Zamzi) was gathered around Seifer - who'd nearly finished cutting the new hole in the wall.

Echoes of the creatures very close, too close sounded through the air.

Zell and Quistis turned with their flashlights, the beams scanning the area.

Then they saw Squall running, immediately shinning their light into his face. Squall cried a deep growl, holding his hand up to his sensative eyes, falling forward.

The shadow-creature jumped down into the light, screamed its own pain, then jumped up and away.

Seifer - having stood and quickly moving his gun ready at the sound of the creatures echoes so close - fired fast shots at the shadow-creature.

It fell back into the light making a loud thud sound. Everyone screamed, stepping back.

Squall slowly pushed himself off the ground.

Seifer sneered, still holding his gun, looking angrily down at the monster.

"Is it alive?" Zell asked.

Seifer looked around the upper parts of the box piles, reloading his gun.

Zell moved the light beam of the flashlight over the creature. The dead shadow-monster's skin began to smoke, burning.

"Its like the light is scalding it," Nida said softly, standing behind Zell.

"It hurts them," Zell mumbled. "The light actually hurts them."

Echoes of the other shadow-creatures still in the room moved the group's attention from the dead one.

"Is that Zamzi?" Quistis called.

"We'll burn a candle for him later," Seifer said, moving back to wall-hole. "Come on, lets get out of here." With that, he kicked the hole, the metal popping out of place.

----------------------


	10. The Scent of Prey

//Pitch Black: Chapter 10// 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

Cargo had been shoved against the door and walls. The survivors were desperately gathering around Zell's handlight. Stephen…tough, little Stephen, had been reduced to nothing but a shivering lump of mush. He was terrified. Those beasts were nothing to laugh at. They'd already killed Irvine, Rinoa, and two of the Trepies. Who was going to drop next?

"…Dere's one cutting torch…and one handlight here…Ah, and there's two more in the cabin," Zell declared. "I think two more, anyway."

"Spirits," Nida declared. "Anything over 45 proof burns rather well."

"How many bottles are dere?" Zell questioned, cocking his neck to the side.

"I'm not really sure," Nida replied. "Ten, perhaps?"

"Those umbrellas," Zell began. "Those…things in that mist. Would they burn?"

Zell noticed the particularly disappointed look on Nida's face.

"…If ya' got a receipt?" he finished.

"Possibly," Nida said shortly.

"Aright," Zell stated. "So maybe…just maybe, we'll have enough light."

"Enough for what?" Seifer asked.

Zell just gave the sky-eyed blonde a dirty look.

He was challenging _him_ to be the mind-reader this time around.

"Oh, man. If you're in your right mind, I pray to Hyne you go insane." Seifer distributed his attention fully to the other survivors. 

"We can just stick to the plan. If we get four cells back to that skiff, we're off this damn rock." Zell kept his eyes locked on Seifer.

"I hate to kill a beautiful theory with an ugly fact," Nida replied. "But…that sand-cat is solar... won't run at night."

"We'll have to carry the cells," Zell realized. "…Drag them, whatever it takes…"

Zell looked up, glancing from troubled face to troubled face. They were truly afraid. Uncomfortable in such a situation.

Yet they were all too deep in though to realize that the light on the floor seemed to be growing even dimmer…

"You mean…tonight?" Stephen asked. "With all those…_things_ still out there?!"

"Oh, of course!" Nida cried, his voice rich with sarcasm. "Why not? It sounds like a hoot."

"Back it up," Seifer replied. "How long can this last, anyway? A few minutes? Couple hours?"

No one knew for sure.

"I had the impression…from the model," Quistis began. "That…the two planets seemed as if they were moving as one. That there would be a…lasting darkness.

"The suns gotta' come back _sometime_," Seifer muttered. "And if these damn animals really _are_ phobic about light, we just sit tight till then."

"I'm sure that's what someone else said," Zell mumbled.

They were all locked inside that coring room.

It was a persuasive though.

Eager eyes all turned to Stephen.

"…Look," Seifer began, breaking the silence that had fallen. "We gotta' think about everyone now. The kid, especially. How scared is he gonna' be out there?"

"Oh don't _use_ him like that," Zell said loudly, his voice loud for Seifer alone. "Don't use him for a damn smoke screen."

"Smoke screen for what?" Seifer inquired.

"You deal with your own fear," Zell replied.

Seifer glared at Zell, his sky blue eyes narrowing as he stared at the blue-eyed blonde.

"Hey, why don't you shut the fuck up for two fucking seconds and let _me_ come up with a plan that _doesn't_ involve mass suicide?!" he snapped.

Two seconds passed, a premature silence having taken the room over.

"How much you weigh, Seif?" Zell asked, his voice softer than before.

"What the hell's it matter?" Seifer questioned.

"How much?" Zell echoed.

"…79 kilos," Seifer replied.

"Because you're79 kilos of gutless white meat, and _that's_ why you can't come up with a better plan," Zell growled.

Seifer's eyes flashed with anger, and he made a move at the tattooed blonde. But then Squall came in, blocking Seifer from reaching Zell.

Seifer's shotgun bumped the underside of Squall's chin.

"Think about that reward, Seifer," Squall said.

"I'm more than willing to take a cut in pay," Seifer stated.

"How 'bout a cut in your gut?" Squall inquired.

Seifer looked down, wincing at the sight of Squall's shiv, the razor-sharp blade poised near his groin, ready for evisceration.

"Oh, Trash Baby," Seifer muttered. "You're gonna' regret this…"

"Please," Quistis began. "This solves nothing. Please…"

Seifer backed off first. The light grew even dimmer.

Zell looked down at Stephen, his blue eyes looking down upon the small boy.

"They're afraid of our light. That means we don't have to be so afraid of them," he soothed.

"And you're certain you can find the way back?" Quistis asked. "Even in the great darkness?"

"No, I'm not," Zell admitted. "But _he_ can."

Zell pointed at Squall, the ex convict they had once feared greater than any hatchling. Yet now they depended on him more than they did themselves.

*******

They prepared to leave the cargo room, venturing out into the vast blackness. The eclipsing planet dominated half of the sky. In the little coronal light that remained, clouds were forming.

The cargo doors cracked open. Mixed for a maximum flame, the cutter was pushed outside and swept around. Zell appears behind it.

The survivors all moved like hostages, crossing over open ground, trying to heed the wicked primal sounds that sounded just beyond their light.

Soon they reached the main cabin. There was a vast darkness inside.

"Squall," Zell breathed.

The brunette lifted his goggles.

Squall looked out to the shadowy abyss, finding nothing but wreckage.

No life.

"Looks clear," Squall declared.

Seifer shouldered ahead and crawled in first. Just as he stood up, a predator buzz sawed just inches over his head. It flew from the darkness, screaming out into the great night.

"Fuck me," Seifer growled, his voice furious yet horrified. "You said _clear_."

"I said _looks clear_," Squall corrected.

"Well, what's it look like now?" Seifer inquired, a bit calmer this time.

Squall rechecked the blackness.

"Looks clear," he said.

"Just get the damn lights on," Zell demanded.

They all scrambled aboard.

Squall tongue clicked behind Seifer, smiling to himself when he realized the sky-eyed blonde wasn't amused.

******

The survivors tried their damnedest to power up on cabin lights, yanking three more cells from the battery bay. They threaded nylon cord through Nida's misting umbrellas, filling the useful reservoirs with high-octane liquor. They swapped out O2 canisters, ready for the journey that lie ahead.

Seifer reloaded his shotgun, finding himself shaking once again.

He unpocketed a shell, a red morphine shell, and gave it a lover's look.

Zell appeared behind the misleading blonde.

"Ready, Seif?" he asked.

Seifer palmed the shell, wondering if Zell had seen it.

"He'll lead you over the first cliff," Seifer muttered. "You know that, don't you?"

"We're just burning light here," Zell replied.

"You give him the cells and the ship, and then he'll leave you," Seifer said. "He'll leave you all out there to die."

"I don't get it, Seif…" Zell trailed off. "What is so _fucking_ valuable in your life that you're worried about losing? Huh? Is there anything at all? Besides your next hype?"

Seifer said nothing.

"…Got no right to be so scared," Zell finished. "Neither one of us."

*******

Back in the battery bay, hands yanked out the final power cell. Yet in the main cabin at the crashed ship, the cabin lights died.

Still brooding, Seifer finished loading his shotgun in the darkness.

And then they were off.

All of them, traveling through the darkness.

The lights around them would have to suffice, as it was their only hope of survival.

Quistis was chained into the first harness of the drag-sled, and Seifer fumbled with the second harness beside her. Hands helped him into the chains. The hands belonged to…Squall.

Both men recognized the irony of the prisoner helping his captor into chains.

"Keep the light going!" Zell cried. "That's all we have to do to live through this. Just keep your light burning!"

Squall looped a handlight over his neck, placing it to shine light down his back. It was a beacon of sorts.

"Be runnin' about 10 paces ahead," Squall said to Zell. "I want light on my back, but not in my eyes. And check your cuts. These damn things know our blood now."

Stephen swallowed, obviously afraid. Overhearing Squall's message, he went stone-faced.

"Squall…" Zell began. "I was…thinkin' we should make some kind of deal. Just in case, you know…this actually…"

Squall shook his head. "Had it with deals."

"But I just wanted to say-" Zell tried.

Squall cut him off.

"Nobody's gonna' turn a murderer lose. I fuckin' knew better."

Zell was worried.

_If he doesn't expect to go free…_

"…Been a long time since anyone's trusted me," Squall continued. "That's somethin' right there.

"We can, can't we?" Zell asked. "Trust you, I mean."

"Actually…" Squall trailed off. "That's what I've been askin' myself…"

And with that, the stormy-eyed brunette walked away.

Zell stood for a moment, but then continued to move along with the others, desperate to keep the light steady.

But deep down, he wondered if he had made a terrible, _terrible_ mistake…

Squall ran ahead, his goggles off, his eyes flashing in the darkness. Seifer and Quistis pulled the drag-sled like malamutes, handlights seeping. Nuvy was at the first side, at a guarding position. Zell and Stephen were at the second, each position carrying an umbrella torch. With fireballs blazing, Nida was stumbling along at rear-point. He swept the cutter back and forth, every shadow a major threat.

They were a train of light through the never-ending darkness.

Zell looked down, his sapphire eyes glimmering as he gazed at the sand-tracks underfoot.

The survivors continued running, the great beasts out in the darkness, fearing the iridescent light that they carried so bravely. Yet they were careful, following the survivors, waiting for their lights to dim. Waiting, hungry for a mistake.

Zell looked down once again, noticing that the sand-cat tracks had vanished.

The hell?

"So you noticed too?" Seifer asked.

"Squall," Zell called out. "Squall."

The procession grinded to a halt.

Everyone sucked hard on breathers as they mustered inside the vivid light.

"Where are the sand-cat tracks? Why aren't we still following them?" Zell asked.

"Saw something I didn't like," Squall said coolly.

"Such as-" Seifer muttered.

"Hard to tell," Squall admitted. "Sometimes, even for me…but it looked like a bunch of those big boys chewin' each other's gonads off. Thought we'd swing wise. Okay by you?"

Nida looked over his shoulder.

We went around what?

A nearby clicking sound broke up the temporary confrontation.

"Let's move," Zell announced.

He turned his attention to Stephen. "Just a detour," Zell replied. "He'll get us there."

"Can we switch?" Nida questioned.

"What? Switch what?" Zell inquired.

"I think I twisted my ankle running backwards like that," Nida complained. "And I'm not really all that sure if I can…"

He looked up, noticing that everyone was staring at him.

"All right," he continued. "That's a lie. I just don't want to alone back there anymore. If you could just give me a few moments up front here…"

"He's the pilot," Seifer said, motioning to Zell. "He should stay close to the cells."

"Oh, so I'm disposable?" Nida asked.

"I'll switch, I'll switch," Zell groaned. Hyne, just get 'dis damn train moving!"

*******

They trundled on, Zell being the new tail-gunner. At side guard, Nida had relaxed a bit. Yet still, the bizarre clicking noise could be heard without strain.

A weak fireball spewed from Nida's torch. He checked the reservoir. It was almost empty.

"Light," Nida replied. "Please, I need light here…"

Still moving, Seifer and Quistis trained lights on Nida while he refueled.

For a brief moment, Stephen strayed out from the light.

Unknowingly, the predators dive-bombed the young boy.

A high-velocity clicking noise sounded out through the air. It was like an incoming missile. Quistis lunges at the last nanosecond, forcing Stephen to the ground.

Scythe blades swung violently, chinking the harness-chains on Quistis' back.

Seifer whirled, blasting gunshots at the deadly creature.

Beams of light leapt around, but the predator was already gone.

"Please…" Quistis murmured, trembling from fear. "Have we been cut? Can someone please, tell me if…"

She found her dropped light, thumbing the switch again and again. It was broken.

In the confusion, Nida had been left in the dark.

Something slashed him from behind. It was as if the night had claws.

"Oh, sweet Hyne," Nida whispered.

His bottle dropped. The blood flowed.

The clicking noise had stopped.

"Oh sweet Hyne, will you get me some light over here?!" Nida yelled, his voice filled with terror.

Faces whipped around. But before their lights could rescue him, Nida was gone, snatched away by a swooping blur of razor-blades.

Nida's blood fell onto the ground, being lapped up hungrily by the deadly creatures.

Light beams jumped fitfully, vainly.

Squall looked out into the abyss, watching as predators fed on Nida. He noticed how they sounded to new prey. He checked their direction and saw how they were looking at what they desired…

Stephen.


	11. Don't you dare cry for him...

//Pitch Black: Chapter 11// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

"Nice to see you're still okay," Seifer mumbled to Squall, seeing the prisoner slowing walking back towards the main group, the chaos of the shadow-creature's attacks ending.

Squall didn't bother with a reply. His eyes had turned back to the site of Nida being eaten.

Zell stood a foot behind Squall. "Do I even wanna know?" he asked, referring to the carnage that was as bright as daylight to Squall.

Squall cocked his head slightly to the side as if saying _maybe_, but again, didn't bother with a verbal reply.

The creatures were wrestling around, fighting over food, and still staring... at Stephen.

Squall turned his attention to the young boy, looking him over. Stephen's lower lip trembled with fear, even though he couldn't see into the black where the shadow-creature's dwell.

There was something about that boy. Not that Squall hadn't realized it the first moment he'd laid eyes on the young kid, but... it would provide a very annoying problem the further this _adventure_ went...

~*~

Zell moved the flare he'd held down to light one of the booze bottles - which had been prepared with rope to soak the alcohol up, and burn - providing light. The flare quickly died out, Zell picking up the booze bottle and bringing it to eye level, tossing the flare aside.

"Are we getting close?" Stephen asked Zell. The young boy had hardly left Zell's side since the attack.

Zell frowned at Stephen, slightly agreeing that this trek was taking far too long. He turned to the front of the sled, looking at Seifer and Quistis. "Can we pick up the pace.

Growling angrily, Seifer stopped walking, throwing the chains to the ground. He was about to snap something at Zell when Quistis spoke.

"Track..." Quistis mumbled.

Nuvy, the only surviving Trepie, said something in Japanese.

"What the fuck...?" Seifer mumbled, seeing the tracks in the dirt. _Sled_ tracks. _Not_ sand-cat. Which meant...

"We've crossed our own tracks," Zell whispered to Stephen, explaining what had happened.

Seifer approached Squall, who'd stopped walking and was kneeling in the dark - 10 feet ahead of the others. 

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Seifer asked.

"Why have we circled? Are we lost?" Quistis asked, approaching the convict and mercenary.

"Listen," Squall replied softly.

"Do you even know where we are?!" Quistis snapped.

Squall stood and said in a loud firm voice "Listen!"

Everyone went silent. 

Shadow-creatures. Calling. Echoing. Howling in hunger. Ahead of them. In the bone canyon.

Seifer held his gun up, reading to fire.

"Canyon ahead," Squall said softly. "I circled once to buy us some time to think."

"I think we should go now," Quistis replied.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Squall disagreed. "That's death row up there... _especially_ with the girl bleeding..."

"What?" Quistis replied.

Everyone turned to look at Nuvy, who just stared blankly at everyone.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Seifer sneered. "She's not cut."

"Not her..." Squall said, with a small smirk. He turned to look at Stephen. "_Her._"

Zell turned to Stephen, eyes wide.

Stephen's eyes filled with tears immediately. His..._Her_ lower lip trembled, and slow tears started down her cheeks.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Seifer groaned, a disgusted sneer on his face.

"I-I just thought it would be better if people took me for a guy," Stephen said. "I thought they'd leave me alone instead of always messing with me!"

"Hyne, Stephen!" Zell cried, stepping towards the young _girl_, taking the kid into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Selphie... my name is Selphie..." Stephen... _Selphie_, the young _girl_ replied.

Everyone watched Selphie, unsure of what to make of the scene.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Zell whispered, rocking Selphie. "Are you really bleeding?"

"You coulda left me at the ship, Zell," Selphie said. "I was afraid to be left... by myself."

Quistis and Seifer turned from watching the young girl to look at Squall. Squall's eyes were locked on the road ahead. 

"They've had a nose open for her ever since we left," Squall said. "In case you didn't notice, they go off blood."

Zell took his arms from Selphie, looking at the leaders of the group.

"Look," Zell said. "This is not gonna work. We're gonna have to go back..."

"What?!" Seifer snapped, turning around to frown angrily at Zell. "What did you say?"

Zell watched Seifer.

"You're the one that got us out here in the first place, Zell," Seifer growled. "Turned us into sled-dogs!"

"I was wrong, I admit it," Zell said, defeated. "Okay? Can we just go back to the ship?"

"I don't know, Zell," Seifer replied. "Nice breeze, wide-open space. I'm starting to enjoy my fuckin' self out here."

"What? Are you high again?" Zell said, leering at Seifer. "Listen to yourself, Almasy."

"No, no!" Seifer said, taking a step towards Zell. "You're right, Zell. What's to be afraid of? My life's just a pile of meaningless shit anyhow. So I say,_ mush on_! The canyon's only a couple hundred meters then its skiff-city."

Zell swallowed, but he was still leering at Seifer.

"So butch-up," Seifer snapped. "Stuff a cork in this fuckin' kid-" he pointed at Selphie "-and let's go!"

"_He_ is the captain!" Quistis defended Zell. "We should listen to _him_!"

"Listen to him?" Seifer said to the priestess, almost amused. "After he was so willing to sacrifice us all?"

"What's he talking about?" Selphie asked, her voice still weak from tears.

"This does not help us," Zell said, trying to sound calm.

"During the crash, he tired to blow the whole passenger cabin," Seifer said, smirking at Zell. "Tired to kill us in our sleep."

Quistis look at Zell, her eyes wide.

"Shut your mouth!" Zell snapped, taking a step forward. 

"We are fuckin' disposable," Seifer taunted.

"Shut your mouth!" Zell repeated, taking a step forward.

"We're just walking ghosts to you, aren't we Zell?" Seifer finished.

Zell lunged at Seifer yelling "Shut your fuckin' blowhole!"

Seifer grabbed a hold of Zell's wrists, tossing the small blonde to the ground.

"Fine, fine!" Quistis yelled at Seifer, stepping in between him and Zell.

Zell fought off his tears of guilt for what he'd tried to do. What he had almost done. 

"You made your point," Quistis said to Seifer. "We've all been scared."

Zell didn't want to stand yet. His chest ached from guilt.

"Oh Zell," Seifer purred. "How much do you weight now...?" Seifer picked up a flare, hitting the butt end on his thigh, the green light bursting in the darkness. "Verdicts in," Seifer said to the others. "Light moves forward..."

~*~

Seifer stood 10 feet from the others, letting them deal with the sled now. He was fed-up with this bullshit. 

He nodded for Squall to approach.

Squall walked to Seifer, holding his hand up to block the green-flare light from his jeweled eyes.

"Ain't none of us gonna make it," Seifer said, clearly amused.

"You just realized that?" Squall said, slowly walking towards the canyon.

Seifer took up step next to his pay-day.

"Six of us left," Seifer purred. "If we could make it through the canyon and lose just one that would be quiet a feat, ne?"

"Not if I'm the one," Squall replied.

"What if you're one of five?" Seifer asked.

Echoes of shadow-creatures close by took both men's attention away from the conversation for a short moment.

"... I'm listening," Squall said, pulling Seifer back from the sounds.

Zell and Quistis pulled the sled themselves, Nuvy and Selphie as close as possible. The four were a good 15 paces behind the two talking men, but Zell wanted them to be further apart. He didn't trust Squall that much, though he wanted to. And Seifer... well, Seifer Zell didn't even _like_ let alone trust.

"What are they doing up there?" Selphie asked.

"They're talking about the canyon I suppose... how to get us through it," Quistis answered.

Seifer took a slow glance back at the group that followed them. "Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies," Seifer said, looking back to the road head. "Its called Triage."

Squall shook his head, disappointed. "Kept calling it _murder_ when I did it."

Seifer smirked, laughing softly. "Either way, I figure its something you can grab onto."

"Sacrifice play? You want me to hack up a body?" Squall asked. "We can leave it at the start of the canyon...like a bucket of bait."

"Trawl with it," Seifer replied. "You've got extra cable on the sled. We drag the body 40, 50 feet behind us-"

"Nice embellishment," Squall replied.

"Yeah, well," Seifer said with a sigh. "I don't wanna feed them, I just wanna keep them off our scent."

"So which one caught your eye," Squall said, starting to turn back to look at the 4 who still followed.

"No- don't look!" Seifer snapped quietly.

Squall turned back to the road.

"Hyne," Seifer said. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Quistis," Zell said. "Slow down... just a little more space between us and them."

The sled crew slowed down. A few moments later they were 30 feet behind the two talking men.

"All right, enough of this shit," Seifer said, no longer amused with the conversation. "You do Selphie, and I'll keep the others off your back."

Squall stopped walking and slowly turned to look at Seifer.

Seifer raised his eyebrows. "Not too big of a job for you, is it?" He smirked at the convict.

"I'm just wondering if we don't need a bigger piece of bait," Squall replied, his jeweled eyes burning into Seifer's sky-blue ones.

"Like who?" Seifer said, oblivious of the threat at first.

Squall's jeweled eyes sparkled at Seifer, the air around them seemed frozen. Time was frozen.

In a simple, quiet movement, Squall knocked the green flare from Seifer's hand - the light flinging 10 feet away.

Seifer moved to pull his gun out, but Squall was faster, grabbing the gun from the sheath, firing.

Seifer, luckily was able to grab a hold of the gun, pushing its direction away from him before any bullets were fired in his direction.

"Leave the sled!" Zell cried, seeing the two men fighting ahead. "Let's move!"

He turned, grabbing Selphie's hand, holding a booze-light-bottle in the other, starting to run back towards the far, far off crash site.

Quistis, taking Nuvy's hand, followed Zell's instructions and ran after the blonde pilot.

Seifer pounded his fist into Squall's chest, trying to pull the gun away. Squall kept firing the gun, more trying to empty it of its bullets then really hit Seifer. After a few punches, Seifer kicked Squall's legs, the gun flinging across into the dirt 8 feet away.

Squall pushed Seifer back, the blonde sliding into the dirt three feet from the brunette convict.

Seifer stood, breathing heavily. He pulled a knife from his vest, licking his lips.

Squall looked at Seifer calmly. The convict pulled out his bone-knife, eyes blank - like doll's eyes. They glistened in the green flare slight, daring Seifer to attack.

Slowly the two men circled each other, Squall - calmly, Seifer - tired and strung out (he's a druggie, after all).

The green flare light dimmed slightly, signaling it was near ready to give out.

Seifer lunged towards Squall, knife up and ready to attack. He tried to push it into Squall's chest, but Squall was able to hold Seifer back. 

"Stay in the light," Squall purred at Seifer, the green flare flickering again.

Seifer breathed heavily, both men grunting. Seifer kicked Squall's feet from under him, Squall falling onto his back. Seifer jumped down onto Squall, bringing the knife down hard.

But Squall caught Seifer's wrist, holding the large blonde's arm up. 

"Remember that moment..." Squall said, then he kicked Seifer away, slicing Seifer's chest with a deep wound that would bleed heavily.

Seifer found his gun as he hit the dirt. But it was empty. 

"Never should have taken the chains off, Almasy!" Squall called.

Groaning, Seifer rolled onto his back, loading the gun slowly. 

The green flare light flicked again, then it when out. The only light now came from Seifer's gun-flashlight.

"You were one brave fuck before," Squall continued.

Seifer clicked a bullet into the gun, then another; tired and hurt. 

"You were really bad-ass," Squall said, sneering over at Seifer from his spot 10 feet away. He shook his head, disappointed. "With the chains..."

Seifer loaded another bullet.

"The gauge," Squall purred, stepping back.

Another bullet into the gun.

"The badge," Squall said. "... I told you to ghost me..."

Seifer pushed himself up, holding the gun ready. But Squall wasn't anywhere in sight. The light-beam from Seifer's gun burned brightly in the darkness, searching around for the convict. But no Squall...

Echoes of hungry shadow-creatures called from all around Seifer. He fired rounds in random directions, but then he saw a large shadow-creature. With his hammer-head shark shaped like skull, and its large wings that weren't strong enough to pick the large beast off the ground except a few feet. And the mouth, full of razor-sharp fangs.

It hissed at Seifer, then burst into an all-out run.

What a time for Seifer's gun to jam.

With a large cracking sound, and an echo of flesh being thorn open, Seifer's stomach had a shadow-creature's tail driven through it.

Squall's jewel eyes sparkled over. He could see Seifer's body handing on the tail of a shadow-creature. And Seifer was still alive, for the most part.

The creature purred then lifted its head, opening his mouth. Then it chomped down on Seifer's head, blood splattering everywhere.

~*~

Squall looked at the abandoned power cells. He could just take the cells himself. It was easy enough. _Easier_ actually. 

Sure _he'd _have to drag them, but he wouldn't have to bother helping those four others. And they were as good as dead anyways, even if he went back to find them.

Squall looked away from the sled, into the darkness. He could see lights flickering in the distance. 

Zell...

~*~

The four were still running. But a scream in the distance stopped them. 

Zell turned to look back, but it was futile.

Oh fuck. What had he done? He'd left those power cells behind. Squall would just take them, and the skiff, and leave. Leave them here to die. Just like Seifer said.

Zell turned back to start to head to the crash site again. He screamed, something standing in front of him. The three girls with him also yelled in surprised.

It was Squall.

"Back to the ship, huh?" Squall asked. "Just huddle together until the lights burn out?"

"Get away from us," Zell said.

"Till you can't see what's eating you? That the big plan?" Squall continued his questioning.

"Where's Almasy?" Quistis asked in a stern voice.

Squall turned to the priestess. "Which part?"

"We're gonna loose everybody out here," Selphie said in a small, weak voice. "We shoulda stayed at the ship."

"He died fast," Squall said, stepping towards Zell, eyes locking with the young pilots briefly, before continuing to step forward. He moved past the blonde boy to the young girl. "And if we have any choice about it, that's the way we should all go."

Selphie's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Don't you cry for Almasy," Squall said in a soft voice. "Don't you dare..."

----------------------------------------------------------

**// Ah! Seifer died! I know!! ... I'm such a mean person! ... but that's how the movie went. Johns (Seifer's movie double) died. And actually, I'm surprised none of you saw it coming. Seifer was the 'bad guy' character in this... but I guess Seifer is such a fucking jerk all the time, everyone just brushes that aside when people write him that way? ... We can forgive Seifer's asshole-ness b/c he's so hot, ne? ...lol...**

**// And to reinforce.... Stephen, the 12 year old boy, is actually SELPHIE! ... yes, Jack (Selphie/Stephen's movie double) turned out to be a girl. But it was a little more obvious in the movie b/c well... Jack was _very_ feminine looking... long eyelashes, slender body, voice. -- Sorry if that confused anyone... I tried to write it the best I could...**

**// ~*Julie, xoxo**


	12. Can't Make It...

//Pitch Black: Chapter 12/ 

**//By Wonderful Failure and Julie (yaoifantasy)  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

The survivors were desperate now. Truly desperate. They thrived to survive longer, but they held little hope. Yet they trekked on, prepared to conquer the rest of the journey.

They were in the canyon now. It was dark all around them. Too dark. Nothing but darkness hanging all around them, a mysterious darkness that acted as a curtain to the terrible shadow creatures that soared in the sky not too far above them.

The survivors could all hear a horrid clicking. Battling bone-blades, and mating cries…The rending of flesh and snapping of tendon.

Far below them, the survivors continued onward, with twin flames acting as their light source while they reached the gauntlet.

Some of the predators perched on the canyon walls, watching the survivors out of curiosity…or perhaps something else.

They are but five now. Zell, Squall, Selphie, Quistis, and Nuvy.

They could all hear the night-creatures swirling like omens in the sky. There must be _countless_ predators ahead…

"How many do you see?" Zell inquired.

"One or two," Squall replied.

"Selphie?" Zell called.

"Three full bottles," Selphie stated. "But it's almost time to refill."

"Doesn't seem like enough to turn back on, does it?" Zell asked.

"Only see one way," Squall remarked. "Turn the sled over and drag it like that, girl down low. Light up everything we got. And then run through like dogs on fire."

There was a brief moment of silence before Quistis spoke.

"And use the sled as a shield," she realized, nodding slowly.

"And what about the cells?" Zell questioned.

"I'll take those," Squall declared.

Zell looked at Squall. A hard look…A hard look with piercing blue eyes.

"We're just here to carry your light, aren't we?" he snapped. "We're just the torch bearers, huh."

"Let's drop back an' boot up," Squall suggested.

*******

Back at the boneyard, the survivors were starting up on the power cells. They lashed them together into a great queue. Working amid the gigantic bones, Squall crafted a new harness from the old straps. Close behind him, Quistis muttered in Japanese.

"What're you doin'?" Squall asked.

"Blessing you, just like the others…" Quistis murmured. She felt his cold look rip into her soul. "It's painless."

"And pointless," Squall snapped.

"…I see," Quistis began. "Well, even if you don't believe in Hyne, it doesn't mean He won't be—"

"You _don't_ see," Squall replied.

Squall shrugged into the harness and snug it down.

He continued.

"'Cuz you don't spend half your life in lock-down with a horse-bit in your mouth and not believe. And you surely don't start out in a liquor store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around your neck and not believe. Oh, absolutely I believe in Hyne. And I absolutely hate the fucker."

"He will be with us, nonetheless," Quistis said in a calm voice.

"Give my blessings to the girl," Squall muttered. "She needs a spare."

*******

The survivors were at the gauntlet now. They had their torches maxed out. Burning non-stop, like Phoenix Pinions dancing in the breeze.

Zell and Quistis jogged side-by-side with sleds chained on. They were lapping up O2, hungrily taking in the highly needed source.

Nuvy was clutching a handlight, looking about her surroundings with fear in her dark eyes.

Selphie was rolling under her sled-shield, becoming a turtle in a metal carapace.

Squall had his goggles on. He showed no desire to see what horrors were surrounding them.

There was only one path that they could take - straight through.

"As fast as you can," Squall announced.

"You sure you can keep…" Zell trailed off, not being able to finish his sentence.

"As fast as you can," Squall repeated.

*******

They reached the gauntlet once more. They were ready to conclude the journey. Ready to make it off of this hellish planet. They were ready to be free from the darkness. And out into the light.

Zell and Quistis were on the move, dragging the shield hastily. As fast as they could.

Selphie was speed crawling beneath.

Nuvy tripped along behind the shield, with Squall following after them all, his face already tortured, pulling 200 pounds of stubborn mule cargo…

Yet miraculously, he kept the pace well.

The torch flames were stretched by the wind, flanking them in fire.

The survivors looked up while running, watching in awe _and_ fear as they noticed the demonic predators launching into the air.

First came the hatchlings, streaming right into their faces, then veering away at the last possible second, repulsed by the light. Next came feral sounds overhead.

"Don't look up," Squall ordered.

Thin blue liquid rained onto them. A gooey substance…it had a strange smell.

"Do _not_ look up," Squall echoed.

More of that horrible blue liquid spattered onto them.

Ignoring Squall's orders, Zell looked up, and stumbled when he beheld…A ceiling of predators. At the cusp of light, they dive and weave and dart, slashing each other in a furious desire to _sound out_ the humans below.

Squall was irritated by the slight decrease in pace.

"Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going!" he cried.

His voice whipped them like the Devil's coxswain.

Chastened, Zell kept his blue eyes down and sped up.

More blue blood showered down, followed by entrails dropping out of the sky. Could this be Hell itself?

Quistis muttered a mantra, desperate to calm down the frightened souls around her.

"So dark the clouds around my way I cannot see," she prayed. "But through the darkness I believe Hyne leadeth me…I gladly place my hand in His when all his dim, and, closing my weary eyes, I learn hard on him…"

Now _whole_ corpses crashed down from the sky…falling around them like horrible stars that had fallen from space. They were the dead victims of in fighting.

Zell and Quistis started to slalom through the ghastly mess.

Nuvy passed too close to a corpse, and a blade sliced into her leg, drawing blood. She kept her mouth shut, stifling a pained scream.

The passage was getting narrower and narrower…and was now nothing but a choke-point. Zell saw it first.

"Squall? Squall?" Zell called.

Ahead of them, a clot of dead predators blocked the canyon.

"What?" Selphie inquired. "What is it?"

"It's a fucking staircase!" Squall cried. "Go over it! _Go over it_!"

Steeling themselves, the survivors started to climb. But Selphie, on all fours, had to discover the corpses with her _hands_. Then, taking exception at being walked on…one "corpse" snapped at her.

Selphie recoiled sideways and tumbled down the mound of corpses. She was exposed from her hiding place.

The predators all glared at Selphie…ten different predators.

"Selphie!" Zell cried.

Selphie shook out of it and scrambled for the shield just as a predator kamikazed onto the shield, its bone-blades stabbing deep into the strong metal.

They nearly skewered Selphie beneath. She gave out a shriek of terror.

Caught in torchlight, steaming, the predator howled as it tried to rip free of the shield. Beneath, Selphie hung on and took a thrashing. The predator finally tore clear, spinning around and pounced blindly at…Squall, who stood at light's edge.

Stunningly, he caught the beast under its scythe blades, blunting the attack. The shadow-creature clicked madly at him.

The predator could see Squall's calm face through a veil of white…its night vision. It reared its head back, ready to bisect Squall with its skull blade. Switchblade fast, Squall dropped a hand, yanking his shiv, and swept over the belly of the terrible beast.

Howling in pain, the predator fell, disemboweled.

It's entrails fell from the huge wound in its stomach, falling onto the ground below.

Zell and Quistis looked in surprise…and disgust.

"Didn't know who he was _fuckin'_ with!" Squall snapped at the best with a sneer.

The survivors regrouped.

Quistis' head swiveled back and forth.

They were one person short.

"Nuvy!" Quistis cried.

"Get the girl back under," Squall demanded. "Keep going."

"Nuvy!" Quistis repeated.

"Keep going or I will!" Squall shouted.

Suddenly Nuvy reappeared, thrust back into the light by unseen forces. She was still alive…but shouldn't be. She made a feeble attempt to grab onto Quistis, to anyone, but she's gone again before they could even react, jerked out of the light. Out of existence.

Quistis felt tears sting at her eyes, but blinked them away. The last of her Trepies was gone now. _Gone forever._

Silencing words of anger, Quistis and the others flailed on, desperately.

And now, finally…finally…the canyon widened, opening up like the great doors to Heaven.

Yet behind them, the _worst sounds_ fell behind…

They all had looks of obvious hope on their faces…The faintest hope that maybe…just maybe they'd survived the Seventh circle of Hell.

But then…the torches spit and sputter.

Selphie heard a pattering noise on the metal shield. New blood fell…and one torch died. Yet it came back to life.

What was going on?

Quistis upturned a hand, checking the liquid for color…but found none. This blood had no hue.

"Oh, no…" Zell murmured. "No, no, no…"

"Rain," Quistis said, feeling the hope slip like sand from her grasp.

Rainwater was running, flowing over the rocks and ground.

Caught in a downpour, the survivors slogged to a stop.

One torch went out…and it wouldn't relight.

Squall was laughing.

"So where the hell's Hyne now, huh?" Squall purred in an amused voice.

Quistis said nothing.

"I'll tell you where he is," Squall continued. "He's right up there, _pissing on me_!"

"Squall?" Zell began. "Squall, how close?"

Squall shed his goggles to look ahead.

He looked into the darkness, his face expressionless.

What did he see? What was he thinking?

"Tell me the settlement is _right_ there!" Zell cried. "Squall, please!"

"We can't make it," Squall muttered.

Zell felt his face fill with anguish…rendering ethereally in the dying torchlight. Tears swelled within those beautiful blue eyes of his.

They stood there for just a moment.

All of them, standing there.

The rain fell all around them, like water spears being tossed down by angels. From a world of darkness above them.

Yet soon the silence faded, and the terrible sounds returned. Those terrible, _terrible_ sounds…

Far worse than they were before…


	13. Please, not for me...

//Pitch Black: Chapter 13// 

**//By Julie (yaoifantasy) and Wonderful Failure  
//rated R for horror, gore, death, and cussing  
// yaoi hints  
**

**//Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy 8 (not the characters/world/etc) -- I wish, but it just isn't happening. And the movie "Pitch Black" - don't own that either. Just ~borrowing~ for creative out-lets.**

==================================

"Here," Squall called the others. There was a small shallow cave on the dirk/rock wall that was to the groups left. It was maybe 7 feet deep, and there was a large boulder next to the cave. "Hide here..." Squall said, motioning for the group to enter.

Selphie, Zell, and Quistis followed Squall's order, entering in the cave. Then the cave no longer had a way out. 

Zell's eyes widened slightly when he realized Squall had moved the boulder in front of the cave entrance. And the convict was still outside.

Quistis walked to the boulder and pushed it. No use, it was lodged into place pretty good.

Outside, Squall took a long look at the rock. It would keep the others safe while he traveled the dangerous last few paced to the Skiff with the power cells. But... would Squall come back for these three survivors?

"Why is he still out there?" Selphie asked.

Zell swallowed, his breathing slightly increased. The blonde only could hope that Squall wasn't planning on abandoning them.

~*~

The rain made the terrain muddy. Lugging 4 power cells weighing at 50 pounds each wasn't an easy task. Clenching his teeth together, Squall forced himself forward, fighting off fatigue. 

~*~

The bottles of booze were almost empty. The lights the three had left were nearly completely out. 

Selphie opened her bottle up, Zell doing the same. Then they poured what was left of the alcohol, their saving light-source, into one bottle, trying to lengthen the burn time.

Capping Zell's bottle, the three huddled around their light, watching the flame flicker in the cool cave room.

They were drenched, tired, and afraid. And Squall had left them. Trapped them.

"He's not coming back, is he?" Selphie asked Zell.

He didn't have an answer.

Flapping sounds of the shadow-creatures just outside the cave echoed and purred. They _knew_ where the food was. And all they had to do was wait for it to come out.

Selphie reached for Zell's hand, taking it, eyes wide at the blocked entrance.

Then, the light of the booze bottle flickered... and died.

Zell waited for complete darkness to take over. But it never did. There was a slight glow in the room. A bluish glow that allowed the three survivors to see.

Looking up, Zell saw where the light was coming from. Strange worm-sized creatures in the dirt. The worm-things were glowing bright blue-light. 

Light.

Quistis reached up and removed a worm from the dirt, bringing it down for the others to get a closer look. It was amazing, the single creature beamed this bright light muting out the darkness. 

~*~

Squall flipped a few switched. Sitting in the pilot seat of the Skiff, he was preparing to take off. Did he go back for the others? No.

Not worth it. They wouldn't make the trek back to the Skiff anyway. Even with him able to defend them now - no power cells to lug.

The engine charged, lights around the craft burning brightly in the darkness.

Squall stood from the chair and walked down the catwalk to the back of the Skiff. He took one final look at the terrain outside, then reached over and pressed the [Close] button. The entrance door shut.

Squall hovered near the entrance, closing his eyes. Zell, Selphie, and even Quistis - he liked them Would he just leave them here to die?

Nodding, Squall turned and headed back to the pilot seat. He flopped down and flipped a few more switches, moving to start his accent.

As he buckled himself in, Squall glanced up. And there was Zell. The booze bottle now glowing a bright blue light.

The tattooed blonde was breathing heavily from running, but he looked determind.

He brunette convict quickly unbuckled himself and headed around to the back of the Skiff, opening the door to let Zell in.

Squall half-smiled down at Zell - the blonde still standing in the rain. "Strong survival instinct. I admire that in a boy."

"I promised them that we would go back wit more light," Zell replied, still breathing heavily from running.

"Did you?!" Squall replied, trying to sound surprised. "Hmm."

"What?!" Zell snapped. "Are ya afraid?"

Squall laughed. "Me afraid?"

"Come on, Squall," Zell replied. "There's gotta be some part o' ya that wants ta rejoin the human race."

Squall cocked his head to the side, moving to squat down. "Truthfully, I wouldn't know how."

"Well then jus give me more light an' I'll go back for them by myself!"

"Okay," Squall said with a nod, turning his upper body around to reach in for a flashlight. He looked back to Zell, tossing the blonde the flashlight. "There ya go."

Zell looked at Squall sad and desperate. Squall returned the look blankly.

"Please jus come wit me," Zell asked, his voice small.

Squall half-smiled away. "I've got a better idea. Come with _me_."

Zell stared at Squall, shocked with the idea of leaving Selphie and Quistis in the cave. Alone. Trapped. To die.

But Zell would live. No problem. He's have the rest of his life. And he _did_ try to kill them before. What's different now? Survival of the fittest, ne? Isn't that how it works? Why risk he life for those two?

Zell wasn't like that, though. He was brave, strong, and determind. And he cared. The priestess and the young girl. They needed help. 

"You're fuckin' wit me, I know ya are," Zell replied to Squall's idea. 

"You know I am?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow. He stood tall again. "You don't know anything about me. I _will_ leave you here."

Zell felt panic run threw him. Zell could go now and live, or go back and _maybe_ live. It was a difficult chioce. 

"Step inside," Squall said.

Very difficult, especially since Squall was so encouraging. And Zell's stomach hurt, torn between morals and his desire to just flee now.

"I can't," Zell replied to Squall, crouching down, holding his stomach. His face cringed in pain of discord.

"Sure you can," Squall encouraged. "Here," he held out his hand to help Zell inside - All Zell had to do was take the hand, "I'll make it easy on you."

Zell felt tears slide down his cheeks. The rain pouring around. It was cold, those beasts were out there in the darkness, and Squall was here. Warm, dry, ready to take Zell away from the pain. The horror. They dying. All Zell had to do was take Squall's hand and he would be free from this place.

But he would have to leave Selphie and Quistis. They were waiting. Depending on Zell to come back for them. 

"Take my hand," Squall said softly. "Come on," he purred. "Come on."

Zell felt more tears slid down his cheeks, sitting there in the mud. Torn.

"Look. No one is going to blame you," Squall said, looking down at the crying blonde. "Save yourself, Zell."

Zell looked up at Squall, unable to move.

Squall smiled slightly sad. He moved off of the Skiff walkway down to help Zell into the ship. "Come on, sweetie," Squall purred, his hands gently helping Zell forward. Zell started to crawl to the Skiff. "There ya go. That's it. That's it. ... Good boy." 

Zell stood, able to walk a little. Squall released Zell, letting the blonde continue forward himself. 

Shadow-creatures hisses from the darkness. Squall turned to look at them, watching carefully for an attack.

Zell paused, the sounds of the night-beasts wakening Zell's memories. Of the handle he pulled. Of Xu, yelling at him to stop. Of Xu dying to protect the passengers. And Zell tried to kill them. Zell owed.

He turned around and lunged at Squall, toppling both of them into the dirt. Zell _wasn't_ going to leave Selphie and Quistis!

"No you!" Zell growled down at Squall - who was laying under Zell, looking up with complete surprised - "You listen to me! _I_ am the Captain of this ship, and I am not leaving anyone on this rock wit those fuckin' things, even if it means-"

He was cut off as Squall flipped Zell over, turned around and changed the positioning. Squall now sat on Zell's stomach, bone blade pressed to Zell's neck.

"Get that thing off my neck!" Zell snapped, struggling slightly under Squall.

"Shut up!" Squall growled. "You'd die for them?"

"I'd try for them," Zell replied.

"You didn't answer my question," Squall said.

"Yes!" Zell answered. "I'd die for them, Squall."

Squall moved the blade from Zell's neck, leaning down close to Zell's face. "How interesting," he purred.

~*~

Quistis stood in front of Selphie, the rock that blocked the cave entrance moving. Then, it rolled out of place, Zell looking in.

Selphie sighed in relief. 

Then Squall appeared in back of Zell, smiling at the two.

Selphie smiled brightly. "Never had a doubt!"

Squall smiled at Selphie a moment longer then said "Anyone not ready for this?"

"There is my Hyne, Mr. Squall," Quistis replied.

~*~

The four ran threw the mud, heading as quickly as they could to the Skiff City. It was an easy trek until two Shadow-Creatures flew down and decided to start wrestling right on the path.

Squall stopped the group and moved to a boulder to hide. He reached behind him and took Zell's hand, holding it tightly. Zell reached back and took Selphie's hand, then Selphie took Quistis'.

Squall then jumped up and started towards the Shadow-Creatures. The two beasts flew up and away quickly, feeling from the flashlight and blue-booze bottle.

In the mud the group started slipping, unable to keep up the fast pace. Squall stopped and pushed the others forward. "Don't stop! Don't stop!"

Then a Shadow-Creature jumped down at hissed. Squall looked at it, watching the creature slowly move towards him.

"You know the way!" Squall yelled, meaning for the others to leave him.

And they did.

Zell lead Quistis and Selphie to the Skiff, it only taking another minute. Then they were in complete light. And the Ship was a button-press away from take off. They could leave right now.

Zell stopped and turned to look into the darkness. "On board," he ordered the two, keeping his eyes locked to watch for Squall's approach.

Meanwhile, Squall had another meeting with a Shadow-Creature. Now two surrounded him, ready to lung forward and eat their dinner. 

Sneering angrily at the creatures, Squall pulled out his bone knife and held his up. Ready, waiting. 

The Shadow-Creatures would have to fight for this meal.

"Zell?" Quistis called, trying to get Zell to come onto the ship. To leave Squall. The convict was probably dead anyway. "Come on, Zell."

Zell glanced back at Quistis, then took another long look into the darkness. No sounds, nothing. Would Squall come?

"Come on," Quistis said gently.

His shoulder's slumping slightly, Zell turned - meaning to reboard the ship.

Then they heard Squall yell. 

Without thinking, Zell turned and burst into an all out run. For Squall. To find him, wherever he was.

"Squall?" Zell called, hearing another yell.

"Squall!"

Zell nearly fell on his face when Squall jumped out at him. The convict's leg was cut pretty badly, and he looked completely warn. But he was alive.

Zell dropped the flashlight, taking Squall into his arms. "Come on," Zell said to Squall. "Come on, baby, we'll make it back to the ship. Jus hold on to me."

Squall grasp Zell tightly, desperate. He honestly couldn't believe Zell came back for him.

"Hold onto me," Zell said again. "We're gonna get outta here. Its okay... I've got ya."

Squall slipped, almost falling.

Zell had a hard time holding him up. "Come on!" Zell yelled. "You're stronger then this! ... I said I'd die for dem, not for you!"

And with that said, the sound of flesh being sliced into and torn apart filled the air. Blood splattering into the muddy, rain drenched dirt. And Time seemed to freeze.

Zell and Squall looked into each other's eyes, watching. Squall looked at Zell sadly, Zell smiling slightly at the convict. Zell leaned forward in a half a second, brushing his lips against Squall's.

Then Zell was lifted up and away. Torn from Squall's arms. Zell's arms open, reached down to try to grasp Squall's hands. The Shadow-Creature's tail sliced threw Zell's stomach, wings beating at it carried Zell away.

Squall watched in horror as Zell disappeared into the dark, night sky.

"Not for me," Squall whispered, Zell having vanished in the pitch black. "Please... not for me."

His legs weakened as he fell into the mud, his jeweled eyes still staring at the place where Zell disappeared.

~*~

Squall sat in the pilot seat, the Skiff's engines on.

Selphie was strapped in the co-pilot seat, Quistis sitting on a metal box right behind Squall.

"So much prayer to make up for," Quistis muttered. "I scarcely know where to begin."

"I know where I'd start," Selphie replied.

Squall just kept quiet, his hand on the accelerator. 

"Squall?" Selphie asked, wondering why Squall hadn't started to take off yet.

"We can't leave," Squall said softly, turning off the main power by pressing one button.

"Lets just get the hell out of here," Selphie said, eyes wide.

"We've gotta say _good night_," Squall replied, waiting in silence, listening to the creatures beginning to pile onto the ship. Then he pressed the power button and shifted the accelerator back, the ship burning brightly, engines bursting into flames.

Creatures outside the ship perished in the light.

The ship burst forward, flying up - towards the heavens.

~*~

"A lot of questions, whoever we run into," Selphie said. "Could even be a mercenary ship. ... So what should we tell them about you?"

"Tell them Squall Leonhart is head," Squall replied. He turned to look at Selphie. "He died somewhere on that planet."

In the black of space, the ship hummed along, flying towards where ever...

_The End..._

----------------------

**// Oie! Zell died!! ... I know, I didn't want to write it either. I love Zell. I should have just killed Quistis or Selphie, but no... its how the movie went and I didn't want to change that. Fry (a FEMALE pilot, Zell's movie double) died at the end, saving Riddick (Squall's movie double). --- I didn't mind Fry dying, but I do mind Zell dying. Oh well... **

**// *huggles Zell tightly* "Its okay, baby. Next story you'll have a happy life."**

**// ~*Julie, xoxo**


End file.
